Team News Riveting
Kochi, March 27
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief over the demise of noted actor and former Member of Parliament Innocent Vareed Thekkethala.
Kerala cinema’s laughter icon Innocent passed away at the age of 75 at 10.30 pm on Sunday, March 26, due to COVID-19 related respiratory issues leading to organ failure and cardiac arrest. Innocent, also a cancer survivor, revelled in narrating funny anecdotes and wrote light-hearted books about his illness.
He was in a critical condition for the past few days and admitted at the Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi. The body had been taken to his hometown Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district and kept at the Town Hall till 3 pm. Later, it will reach his house. The funeral will be held in the Cathedral Church of Irinjalakuda at 5 pm on Monday.
In a tweet, the Prime Minister said; “Pained by the passing away of noted actor and former MP Shri Innocent Vareed Thekkethala. He will be remembered for enthralling audiences and filling people’s lives with humour. Condolences to his family and admirers. May his soul rest in peace: PM @narendramodi”
Innocent might have had top-billing in only a handful of films but his sense of comic timing and razor-sharp humour delivered in side-splitting Thrissurian slang made him a scene-stealer in every film he was part of. In real life too, he acted in different roles; first as an entrepreneur and later as a politician who fought an electoral battle and was elected as Member of Parliament representing Chalakudy constituency.
He also served as the President of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists for many years.
Innocent’s mere presence on-screen or off-screen were enough to evoke laughter making him an inevitable part of more than 700 films. From being wit silly and to sarcastic, shameless and quirky, there was no type of humour he couldn’t pull off. Like every good comedian he knew how to laugh at himself, stretching the limits with brutal honesty and an element of unpredictability, qualities that endeared him in the hearts of Malayalis.
Known for the effortless humour he brought to the screen, Innocent has played a variety of characters from villain to hero to supporting roles. His Mathaichan in the Ramji Rao series, the ‘celibate’ Swamyettan who gets married secretly in Godfather, Unnithan who runs scared of ghosts in Manichithrathazhu, the saintly Warrier in Devasuram, the supportive Balettan in Nadodikattu are but some of the memorable characters. Many of the films may now have been forgotten but the jokes and the comic dialogues have become popular memes that are still remembered, mimicked and adored. The scene in Kilukkam in which he reads the number of a winning lottery ticket that he bought is perhaps the most quoted one of the lot: “adichu mole (I won, dear)” and the passing out after it, followed by a hollow laugh.
He was active throughout his career, missing in action only in the year 2020, due to ill health. Last year he appeared in the films Makal and Kaduva. This year, Innocent had landed a role in the upcoming film Paachuvum Albuthavilakum.
