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Saying it with a difference, again

If I knew earlier that I would have to write an autobiography, I would have made my life more exciting and dramatic,” Sreenivasan ends his short autobiography thus.

The autobiography, running into 12 small chapters, is indeed one of the highlights of ‘Patachonte Thirakkathakal,’ a compilation of writings by and on actor and scriptwriter Sreenivasan.

The book, published by Olive Publications (Kozhikode), makes for delightful reading. It makes you laugh when he talks about the superstar who refused to be paired opposite a teenage heroine because she addressed him as ‘uncle.’

It makes you think when Sreenivasan speaks of the acute shortage of creative talent in contemporary Malayalam cinema.

There are only few who can match Sreenivasan’s sense of humour.

That is the why many of us still sit through his films, be it Vadakkunokkiyanthram or Sandesham when they are shown for the umpteenth time on television.

He, however, makes it clear — in one of three previously published long interviews reproduced in the book — that he became a scriptwriter by sheer chance.

He would have been happy as an actor. It was director Priyadarshan who forced him to write.

‘Patachonte Thirakkathakal’ reveals that Sreenivasan’s life was more exciting than the scenes in his films — like the incident in Chennai when he was cheated brilliantly by his cook. The cook, according to Sreenivasan, could set him back by Rs.10,000.

Then, there are Sreenivasan’s observations like the one on Malayalam cinema’s obsession with the Valluvanadan dialect (or the slang the director assumes to be Valluvanadan).

There are also the revelations, like the one about the late music director Raveendran, who acted as one of the four villains in hot pursuit of Jayabharathi in Manpeda.

P.K. Ajith Kumar

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