Actor and mimicry artist Abi who passed away Thursday to the shock of all Malayalis, had always cherished a special relationship with actor Jayasurya.
The deceased artist had earlier revealed about this special friendship in one of the episodes of ‘Cinema Chirima’ in Mazhavil Manorama in which Abi and Jayasurya appeared together.
“I was at Thrippunithura, Jayasurya’s own place, for my show ‘start camera action’. Then Jayasurya had not yet started acting in movies but was a small-time mimicry artist. The show was a hit wherever we performed. But the organizers in Thripunithura said the performance was not up to the mark, which was probably a trick to reduce the remuneration," Abi said.
"Our stand was to let the audience decide whether the show was good or bad. Jayasurya was on the forefront of the crowd. As a representative of the audience. When we aksed the oyrganizers to seek the opinion of the audience, Jayasurya batted for us and said that the show was superb,” he said.
“As Jayasurya gave a positive opinion as a representative of the audience, the organizers turned against him. They pushed him down. Jayasurya got beaten up in his hometown for me. I can never forget him because he became a scapegoat for me”, said Abi. However he added that, “Once Jayasurya got into movies, he became unavailable."
"But we still used to contact each other over the phone at times. A cassette – program that I had produced couldn’t be taken forward and I was under immense stress. I had no idea whom to turn to. I tried calling a few people for help but they didn’t respond. Finally, it was Jayasurya who helped to release the cassette. Jayan was there to help me at one of the most difficult times of my life,” Abi said.
Even for Jayasurya, the memories of Abi are beyond words. He said, “The first alphabet in Malayalam is ‘Aa’, so is the first letter in ‘anukaranam’(the art of imitating’), ‘Abi’.