‘He’s the One Who First Called Me Mammootty’: Kochi Witnesses a Real-Life ‘Kadha Parayumbol’ Moment

Kochi: In the climax of Kadha Parayumbol, the emotional high point arrives when superstar Ashok Raj (Mammootty) publicly honours his childhood friend, the humble barber Balan (Sreenivasan). On Wednesday evening in Kochi, a moment strikingly similar to that scene played out in real life.

During a literary festival organised in Kochi, Mammootty invited onto the stage the man who first called him 'Mammootty'. Film producer Anto Joseph later shared the touching incident through a Facebook post, along with a photo of the actor standing beside his old classmate Sashidharan.

According to Anto Joseph, Mammootty paused during his address, pointed towards one corner of the hall, and said, 'The man who gave me the name Mammootty… he is sitting there.' He then called Sashidharan from Edavanakkad to the stage, introducing him as the first person ever to use the now -iconic name.

Mammootty shared the story of how he came to be known by his famous screen name. In his younger days, he recalled, he was hesitant to introduce himself as Muhammad Kutty and often told people his name was 'Omar Sharif', which led friends to call him Omar.

Everything changed the day his identity card slipped out of his pocket. Someone who picked it up asked, 'Your name isn’t Omar… it’s Mammootty, isn’t it?' From that moment, both friends and acquaintances began calling him Mammootty.

The actor added that over the years many people had claimed they were the ones who first gave him the name, with even newspaper articles making such assertions. But the person he genuinely remembers as the first to call him "Mammootty' was Sashidharan, whom he had kept out of the spotlight until now as a 'surprise'.

As the audience watched in silence, Mammootty stood beside his old classmate, who folded his hands respectfully.