Do you know that the name of one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema, Mammootty, is not his real name? At birth, he was named after his grandfather Muhammad Kutty. This is a well-known fact for most Keralites. In an old interview with Doordarshan, the actor revealed that he found the name a bit too old-fashioned and more apt for an older man, hence he concealed it when he entered college. "I would tell everyone who asked my name that it was Omar Sharif. However, when my college identity card fell out of my pocket, someone saw it and asked me, "Is your name Mammootty?" That was how I got the name." Back then, the actor also revealed the name of that friend, Sasidharan. "I do not know where he is now," the actor told Doordarshan about that friend. Interestingly, he found even Mammootty a distasteful name and his director PG Viswambharan even suggested changing it. While they changed the name to Sajin with Mammootty in brackets, the latter name stuck.
The other day, the actor told the story behind his now-iconic name at the art and literature festival Manorama Hortus. In addition, he called his friend Sasidharan over to the stage, thus introducing the latter to the rest of the world.
Interestingly, the actor disclosed that many came forward voluntarily, pretending to be that friend who gave him his name. While asking his friend Sasidharan to join him on stage, Mammootty said, to big cheers from the audience, "Many asked me about him, but I have been keeping him hidden all this while. I wanted to introduce him publicly one day and am delighted to be able to do it at this stage."
The real-life moment echoes the climax of the actor's 2007 film Katha Parayumpol, where his superstar character reminisces about his old friend Balan before recognising him from the audience.
