Memories of the morning calls he can no longer make, the many stories he wouldn’t hear anymore, and the absence of the man who would sit in front of his house at Irinjalakuda and invite him in, filled Sathyan Anthikad’s tribute to his old friend and late actor Innocent, who died fighting COVID-19 and cancer-related complication in March. Their friendship and films together are legendary. Sathyan, baring love and admiration for his friend, wrote the long note of remembrance for Mathrubhumi’s Star and Style.
“The biggest problem now is that in the morning, after taking a bath, I feel like calling Innocent. Without thinking, I called two or three times and realised with a shudder that there is no Innocent on the other side. It was a habit of years, every day began with those conversations. With that voice, that untainted love,” Sathyan wrote.
He then recalled his visit to Innocent’s house, the terrible emptiness he felt there, and the meeting with the family – Alice, the wife who was just as humorous as Innocent, and Sonnet, who draws his courage from visiting the grave of his father every evening and watching the many floral tributes from others.
“So many people that we don't even know come there every day and offer flowers and pray. It is this love of people that makes us cry now. Sad that father does not know this,” Sonnet told Sathyan.
Innocent’s wit was famous, not just on screen, but to anyone who had a chance to talk to him. During breaks in film shooting, everyone on the set would gather around the actor and listen to the many stories he told. “He imparts so much knowledge through humour,” Sathyan wrote.
Anecdotes kept pouring from the lifelong friend, about how Innocent built four houses, and named each one ‘Parppidam’ (Dwelling), and how there was an elevator in the newest home. “I asked him why, and he said it would be difficult to take the stairs in old age. But Innocent did not wait that long,” Sathyan wrote.
He sounds proud to talk about the days his friend had spent as a politician, becoming a parliamentarian and taking up causes without making much noise about it. “Immediately after he became MP, there was the inauguration of a completed bridge in Chalakudy constituency. The bridge was built with the help of the MP funds. When people planned to raise a flux of his near the bridge, Innocent stopped them and asked to place the last MP Dhanapalan’s picture,” Sathyan elaborated.
Another time, Innocent became instrumental in getting a man who was jailed in Dubai for 30 years, after being trapped in a scam, freed, taking it to the Union Ministry, and quietly getting it done. He helped the man again when he came back home and had no money to start over again. The story came out only when the man called again, not knowing Innocent was no longer alive.
“There may be more stories of kindness that have not been told to us. Innocent tells stories in which he makes fun of himself. He knows that's what his listeners like,” Sathyan wrote.
But now that Innocent is gone, he writes that Alice has lost all her wit and cheer, and her eyes look dried up with tears. He told her, she must be as she used to be, Innocent would not want to see sorrow, but have the house filled with laughter and jokes.
When he finally descended the steps to leave the house, Sathyan turned to say goodbye. He wrote, “I saw Innocent standing on the verandah, laughing.”