In the iconic Malayalam comedy Ramji Rao Speaking (1989), Sai Kumar plays the main lead as Balakrishnan while Mukesh is in a supporting role as Gopalakrishnan. At an event paying homage to artistes in Malayalam cinema who passed away this year, Mukesh said that he wanted to play Balakrishnan, but was too reluctant to ask directors Lal and the late Siddique, who debuted with the film and became one of the most popular director duos in Malayalam.
The event was held as part of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), when actors Innocent and Mamukkoya, filmmaker KG George, and producer Achani Ravi were commemorated among others, by colleagues in the industry.
"They fixed me as Gopalakrishnan, and were trying to get Jayaram to play Balakrishnan, the main lead. But Jayaram was tied up in other projects at the time. I wanted to ask them, why don't you let me play the lead, but how does one ask that? Finally, they brought in Sai Kumar, and asked me if that worked. I had to say yes," Mukesh said, as he paid tribute to director Siddique and actor Innocent, who passed away in 2023.
Innocent, a veteran comedian, played Mathaichan, one of his most recognised characters, in the film. It was a character he almost did not do, Mukesh recalled in his speech. "He had committed to another big project and said no to Siddique and Lal. The directors planned to rewrite the film and find another actor to play Mathaichan. One day when Innocent was visiting me, I told him the entire story of Ramji Rao Speaking, complete with the lines written for him, and he realised what a big opportunity it is. He spoke to the director of the film he had committed to and got himself free to play Mathaichan. That changed the course of Malayalam cinema as well as that of Innocent. We had all thought back then that only Mohanlal and Mammootty would play the lead roles and actors like us would forever play supporting characters to them. But Ramji Rao Speaking was one of the first movies to change that," said Mukesh, who is also a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Kollam.
Read: Finding the humour in every problem: How actor Innocent dealt with cancer
Books on each of the late film personalities were also released at the event.
Read: Director Siddique was called Godfather of Comedy, these films prove why