(Left) Dileesh Pothen. (Right) Philip and Chinnamma at the shop. The customers thronging the Kollamparambil Stores at Omallur near Kuruppanthara can not only do some excellent shopping but also listen to the inspiring story of a young boy who dreamed about the movies, narrated by none other than the shop's owner himself.
The fancy shop at the Kuruppanthara junction is owned by Kollamparambil Philip and his wife Chinnamma, parents of award winning filmmaker and actor Dileesh Pothen.
Philip was an employee at the BM film distribution company. Young Dileesh was a constant companion to his father when the latter went to the cinema halls to distribute the film reel boxes.
Little did Philip know then that his young son was beginning to nurture cinema in his dreams. BM Movies was one of the first companies to distribute Tamil films in Kerala. It was BM Movies which released super hit movies like Vikram and Per Sollum Pillai in the state.
Dileesh’s passion for cinema skyrocketed without his parents’ knowledge, and Philip had once caught him from a cinema hall where Dileesh had gone to watch a movie without attending his class. “Hardly did I realize then that I would cheer for his movie years later,” says the proud father with a smile. Like many parents, Philip and Chinnamma too wanted their son to pursue a degree and land a decent job. Chinnamma recollects an incident when she had to tactfully keep a letter which had been sent by a theatre group inviting Dileesh to act in one of their plays, out of her son’s sight.
Meanwhile, knowing about Dileesh’s passion for cinema, Philip’s brother who resides in the US produced a tele film and made Dileesh its director. The tele film 'Varnacheppukal' was aired on Doordarshan and it earned rave reviews for the director. Until Dileesh became busy in the movies, he used to regularly help his father at the Kollamparambil stores.
During the Christmas season, when it is the busiest time of the year at the Kollamparambil Stores Dileesh still mans the shop without the airs of a busy actor and an award-winning director.
Then he is just an ordinary shop keeper who tries to sell the most colorful stars and Xmas decorations in his shop. Dileesh’s wife Jimsy says that he will be at home in Kuruppanthara whenever he gets a small break between the shoots. The loving husband in Dileesh couldn’t think of any other name other than his wife’s for his heroine in his directorial debut Maheshinte Prathikaram.
