Suresh Gopi revisits Odayil Ninnu on anniversary

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first thing Suresh Gopi saw on a film set was someone holding a knife to the legendary actor Sathyan's neck.

“The first thing I saw when I went there with my father was a knife being held to Sathyan master’s neck. Though it was to shave his beard before applying make-up, that scared the hell out of me and I ran out of the Ashramam guest house,” he recalled.

“My father came after me and beat me up and made me act,” he said with a smile while speaking about his début as a child actor at the 50th anniversary celebrations of Odayil Ninnu, K. S. Sethumadhavan’s movie based on P Kesavadev’s novel, here on Saturday.

Prof. M. K. Sanu, who received the 11th Kesavadev Literary Award, said he was the first among the writers who tried to uphold self-esteem. “He is the first person after Chandu Menon and C. V. Raman Pillai to create immortal characters,” said Prof Sanu, who also presented a memento to the director.

“We all loved Dev like anything and that is one of the main reasons why I came to attend this function,” said the 84-year-old director settled in Chennai. The function was chaired by speaker N. Sakthan, who also presented the awards.

The Diabscreen Kerala Kesavadev Award was presented to Dr P. G. Balagopal, additional professor at the Regional Cancer Centre here.

The speaker said Kesavadev was the first person to bring realism into Malayalam literature. Satheesh Sathyan accepted the memento on behalf of his father, who portrayed the immortal role of Pappu in the movie.

Manju Pillai received the memento on behalf of her grandfather, the late S. P. Pillai, who played the role of a rickshawallah.