He moved the Dalits

THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE greeted Mammootty as he walked into the Tagore Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram, on September 21, for the first public screening of Jabbar Patel's ``Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar'' in the State. The theatre was packed, and people sat down even on the aisles to watch their hero play the hero of Dalits and chief architect of the Indian Constitution.

``Nothing is more rewarding than the appreciation one gets at home,'' a visibly moved Mammootty told the audience, ``I owe you, fellow Malayalis, all that I have. Without your encouragement, I wouldn't have been here.''

The crowd loudly cheered, once again, as Jabbar Patel began his address, ``I am happy to be here, in Mammootty country.'' He was all praise for his actor. A few years ago, when he had met Mammootty in Chennai, offering the role, the actor was diffident. The director had decided on trying him out after interviewing and screen-testing hundreds of actors in the country and abroad. ``I wanted Patel to first convince me that I looked like Ambedkar,'' Mammootty said.

Patel pulled out of his file digitally-developed images of Mammootty made up as Ambedkar, and the actor was amazed. ``I couldn't believe the resemblance,'' Mammootty said, ``Morphing had done the trick.''

Patel gave him the film script, ``as thick as a dictionary''. Six months later, the actor agreed to take up the assignment. And then it was hectic shooting, at London, New York and 80 locations in India that included Mumbai, Pune, Baroda, Nashik, Nagpur, Kholapur and Mahad.

He worked hard for the role. He inserted rings into his nose, during the shooting, so that his nostrils flared. He even shaved off his moustache, much to the distress of his women fans.

``Each day was an ordeal,'' he remembered. ``I wanted the portrayal to be as authentic as possible. After all, wasn't it a role of a life-time?''

Oscar-winning designer Bhanu Athaiya asked him to put on weight for the role, and he obliged. ``For the last scene, I wore a skin-cap to look bald. I padded my mouth, too, and this made dialogue delivery difficult. I became conscious of my speech because of the padding.''

One scene, in which Ambedkar initiates the Dalits, remains etched in Mammootty's mind. Tens of thousands of Dalits had gathered for the shooting. In addition to the cameras on the ground, there was one on a helicopter to capture aerial shots of the function. Mammootty's speech moved the Dalits to tears. And they vied with each other to touch his feet.

``Rather embarrassing it was,'' Mammootty recalled. ``Even a professor in a Pune college touched my feet. At that moment, I understood how important Ambedkar was in Indian history.''

K. SANTHOSH

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