'Mammootty backed off; producer fainted inside theatre'; Little known story about Nadhiya Moidu's debut

‘Nokkethadhoorathu Kannum Nattu’, the 1984 classic movie born out of the Malayalam film industry has an anecdote that seldom made it to the magazines. The movie directed by Fazil had Mohanlal, Nadhiya Moidu, and Padmini in lead roles. Film director, producer and distributor Alleppey Ashraf has now opened up about a rare story regarding the movie.

Alleppey Ashraf:

Those days were gruelling times for Fazil. Most of his movies were not working and producers were apprehensive of banking on him. And then, Fazil came up with a story that had no fight or song sequences. This further aggravated the issue as producers gave a clear 'No' when it came to financing. It was then that Fazil approached me with the story. The plot had a charm that I liked instantly.

I approached a distributor in Kollam to help Fazil. Sadly, most of Fazil's movies at that time were performing poorly. So like everyone, the Kollam native had second thoughts. After much persuasion, I made him agree to do the movie. But things only went worse from there.

Fazil had earlier promised the casting of Mammootty, Rahman and Mohanlal. However, Mammootty’s date clashed and he backed out from the project. Fazil himself played Mammootty’s role in the movie. The heroine was a newbie, Nadhiya Moidu, who Fazil picked after watching a wedding cassette from Mumbai.

Another distributor from Madras had come to watch Nadhiya's performance at the shooting location. Much to the chagrin of the crew, the Tamil distributor made public his ill remark about Nadhiya’s acting and the word soon travelled all across the industry.

After the filming, the movie was screened for the distributor and his family. Distraught and sullen faces appeared when the movie finished. The distributor presaged a terrible disaster. The pressure mounted since it was me who roped in the distributor.

The film had its first theatrical screening in Alappuzha. Only a few people were in attendance. One of the producers, Ouseppachan, fainted inside the theatre after learning about the poor turnout. But surprisingly, things changed after the first show. More people started flowing to the theatres. The film went on to run for 100 days. The Tamil remake of the film was also a super hit and now the movie has earned a place in the annals of Malayalam's finest movies.