When I heard that Malayalam cinema has been hiding for eighty-five years since its birth, I said, “Nah! Has it been so many years?” my mind suddenly said. In my mind Malayalam cinema was a century old. When I heard that there are some rare personalities who have heard the sweet words of our Malayalam language from the silver screen, and who have crossed over to Navati, are still alive here today, I felt that it would be good to see those lucky ones.
Then the other day an old friend came to see me. When the topic of cinema and literature came up in the middle of the conversation, a friend told me that he had met an infertile man who had seen the Malayalam debut film ‘Balan’. When I asked if I could go and see him, the client said that he lived some distance away. With that, I shut that desire down and kept it in my mind. What surprised me were some of the things the Navati man said when his friend went to see him. The man who watches everything from old movies to today’s new generation movies said,
“There have been many changes in Malayalam cinema, but the action scenes still remain unchanged from the old days. There is a new boy who brought innovation in doing stunts, who came in karate style, what is his name, Babu Anthony, that kid will fight well, I have never seen someone who fights so well.”
Babu Antony is not as petty as we thought but I thought the fault this time might be about Babu.
Twenty-two-year-old Babu Antony made his film debut through director Bharathan’s ‘Chilambi’. At first sight of Babu, tall, tall, with long hair and a rich beard, Bharata first thought that he was a Punjabi. When he started talking, Bharata realized that the young man was a Malayali, a descendant of Ponkunnam and a master in martial arts. In ‘Chilambi’ starring Rahman and Shobhana, Bharathan also played an anti-hero role, albeit in a smaller role.
He felt that there was no young actor in Malayalam who could play the role of a villain with a peculiar look like Babu Antony, so Bharathan also gave a role to Babu in his next Prayaan. That’s when the movie world started paying attention to the new villain named Babu Antony. After watching those films, Fazil gave Babu Antony a great villain role in Fazil’s film ‘Pooin Puthiya Poonthenna’. I have heard many people say that the young children of that time were scared of the villain of that film and did not even watch the film for a long time. Babu as the villain filled the stage in it.
With that, Babu was dressed in villainous roles in the cast. Babu has appeared as a villain in many films like Mizhineer Poovum, Thirthamura, Mishanam, Jagurta, Kavacham, Vyuham, Mafia, Kauravar etc. Babu was given a character role in the 1988 film Vaishali. It was a good positive role for King Lomapada. A strong character which was never expected from Babu Antony.
It was at that time in 1989 that VG Thambi and I were going to do a suspense thriller called ‘New Year’ for Evershine Productions. It was a maniac character that was a nightmare for characters like Jayaram, Sureshgopi, Urvashi and Silk Smitha. When we were looking for a suitable actor, it was Viji Thambi who suggested Babu Antony to me. Even though I have seen many of Babu’s films, I could not give Babu a role even in a film that I wrote the script for. I think I avoided Babu’s presence because I was mostly doing family films in the eighties. So, Babu Antony is acting in New Years on the recommendation of VG Thambiueda. The shooting was in Ooty.
Babu reached Ooty in the evening before the start of shooting, but we did not meet each other. I, Viji Thambi and cameraman Santhosh Shivan lived in Aranyanivas in Ooty. Jayaram, Babu Antony and Sureshgopi were staying in another hotel. I met Babu Antony for the first time on the location on the first day of shooting. I came across as a soft-spoken, very low-key, obedient poor guy who does exactly what the director tells him to do.
Our friendship that started at New Year’s location quickly grew. With that, I have written a special role for Babu Antony in most of my films. I wrote the script and T.S. Babu Antony was also given one of the four supporting roles in the Suresh Babu-directed film, Rehsin. I did another experiment with Captain Raju, Babu Antony, Keerikadan Jose and Bheeman Raghu, who were the villains of Uppukandam Brothers for so long. The experiment turned out to be a great success.
After that, many producers approached me saying that they want to make a film in the same pattern, but I did not want to continue this quartet pattern. At that time, actor Sattar came to make a film called ‘Kambolam’ with Baiju Kottarakkara as the director. This is Baiju’s first film. It requires a hero with action and adventure. Then Babu Antony’s face came to my mind. Let’s try making Babu a single hero. My mind told me that it would not fail in the current trend. So the shooting of ‘Kampola’ started at Pollachi Chanta. The film became a huge success. With that, in order to make a film with Babu Antony as the hero, many producers started staying in the Orchid Hotel in Kadavantra, Ernakulam, where I regularly sit and write.
After that, I did four or five consecutive films with Babu Antony as the lead. Those films were Kadul, Boxer, Street, Special Squad etc. After seeing the success of these films, many directors started making films with Babu Antony.
Even the super actors of that time were in awe of Babu’s action scenes in Malayalam cinema, where he does karate-style martial arts with lightning speed. There was a Babu Anthony wave for three or four years. Babu was not at all afraid of doing adventurous scenes where danger lurked. Seeing all this, I always remind actor Jayan’s experience, but Babu didn’t care much because of his dedication to the work he was doing. This is what Babu says about it.
“Every profession has its thrills and risks. Especially in movies. What people expect from me is revenge and adventure. Then if we adjust and work for fear of danger, the people will never be with us. There is nothing that can’t be done with good effort. Effort is the greatest effort. That is the secret of my success.
That trend continued for a couple of years, but that success didn’t last long. As time went on, the audience response to action films decreased and Babu Antony’s market began to decline. Later, Babu tried to stay away from acting for some time. Babu settled in America for years and went to the US to spend some time with his family. After three to four years, Babu comes to India.
On his return, Babu focused on Tamil-Hindi-Telugu films. Babu’s entire family including his wife and children were seen acting in a film he did in Hollywood. Babu’s elder son is preparing to hit the silver screen soon.
I have written the most number of scripts for Babu Antony who has acted in 70 films. New Year, Meeting, Kasaragod Kadarbhai, Market, Street, Sea, Special Squad, Again Kasaragod Kadarbhai, Boxer, Gloria Fernandes from U. S. Those films are A, KK Road etc.
(to be continued)