Innocent tickled the stiffed funny bone in every Malayali. And he made them laugh and laugh and laugh. None so far in the Malayalam movie industry possessed that innate ability of self-mocking like him which indirectly taught us-hey, take it easy man. After enriching his roles with this legacy, he passed it on to his best sellers, five in his credit. Innocent was a people’s man as an MP and a long-term president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). The cool actor connected and controlled the showbiz people without much fuss.

There was this Mannar Mathai, a broke owner of Urvasi theatre who accommodates three unemployed young men and their chaos at his place in Ramji Rao Speaking directed by Siddique-Lal, who found his abode in Mollywood forever. Innocent struggled in his life and acting career until then though he did small roles since 1972. In 1990s, the comedy boom in Mollywood saw the actor growing as a lead comedian.

Kilukkam, a super hit in 1991 directed by Priyadarshan created Kittunni, an unforgettable lottery-lover. Bachelor Swaminathan in Godfather was a laughter cracker. Who can get rid of the contrast Mohanlal-Innocent combo in Vietnam Colony? Another remarkable husband-wife pair was Innocent-KPAC Lalitha (passed away) who reigned Mollywood with their inimitable comedy timing in the 1990s.

My all-time favorite is Dr. Pasupathy, a conman-vet comes to a naïve village who tries to fool everyone around, and enjoys a fling with a local UDC(Kalpana) -while writing this only I realized Mollywood has lost many versatile actors- Innocent looked very un-innocent in that role. Similarly, the shrewd Panicker in Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu. The list goes on. The ease of his peculiar facial expressions and unrefined colloquial slang fed several young comedians in their budding stages. Somehow, I am not a fan of the serious roles played by Innocent. Warrier in Devasuram was his best.

Innocent wrote Laughter in the Cancer Ward after battling it, which inspires cancer patients to laugh at the dreadful disease.

Being a Malayali, I cannot contain Innocent in words. The infectious laughter he brought on and off screen has no shelf life.