Malayalam actor Mamukkoya, best known for his impactful comic performances, passed away on Wednesday, April 26, at a private hospital in Kerala’s Kozhikode. The 76-year-old actor, recognised by his distinct Malabar dialect, collapsed during the inauguration of a football tournament in the district on Monday, and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital in Wandoor, from where he was shifted to the Meitra Hospital in Kozhikode. He reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest followed by a haemorrhage, which led to his passing at about 1.05 pm on Wednesday afternoon.
Mamukkoya, who was born in Pallikandi near Kallayi in Kozhikode, began his life as a worker in a timber yard. Theatre was his first love and he worked with amateur drama troupes before making his way into films. He essayed roles as an actor in plays by directors including KT Mohammed.
Mamukkoya entered the world of movies through the 1979 film Anyarude Bhoomi. He got a major break when actor-writer Sreenivasan introduced him to director Sathyan Anthikad in the late 1970s. He portrayed various characters, most of them in the comic genre, throughout his long collaboration with Sathyan Anthikad. One of his most memorable on screen appearances was in Anthikad’s 1987 hit film Nadodikattu. Mamukkoya played Gafoor in the film, the one who “helps” the protagonists played by Mohanlal and Sreenivasan smuggle themselves to “Gulf”. The moniker ‘Gafoor ka Dosth’ entered the Malayali pop culture lexicon through the film.
Though Mamukkoya appears in only a handful of scenes in the comic caper, the character of Gafoor who hoodwinks two gullible Malayalis to take the trip to ‘Gulf’, stayed on for ever, even taking the form of an animation and a full-fledged film in which Mamukkoya played a lead role.
His other memorable roles are as Hamsakkoya, the man chasing Saikumar’s character Ramakrishnan in Ramji Rao. Speaking for an unpaid debt, the photographer who teaches Srinivasan’s character to smile in VadakkuNokkiyanthram, and the frustrated man teaching his superior official to drive in Thalayanamanthram. Characters like Pothuval in Sandesham and Jamal in His Highness Abdulla too had the audience in splits.
A native of Kozhikode, he was known for his distinct Malabar dialect which he retained in every character he played. In the two memoirs he wrote, with Thaha Madayi, Mamukkoya spoke about his life in Kozhikode, the many legendary artists who lived there, their gatherings at writer Basheer’s home and more.
He also featured in the Native Bapa music video series, as the father of a man accused of being a terrorist, narrating lines in between the hip-hop song. In 2004, Mamukkoya won a special mention at the Kerala State Awards for his portrayal of Abdu, a helpless father who accompanies his daughter to seek mercy for her husband who killed a man by accident, in Perumazhakkalam. In 2008, Mamukkoya bagged yet another State Award, this time for Best Comedian, for his role in Sathyan Anthikad’s family drama Innathe Chinthavishayam.