Maranalloor Das, 47, who died at the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram recently, was the the pillar of strength for many super stars in Malayalam and Tamil film industries.
The actors and the crew always felt safe under the gaze of Das and his team of private security personnel.
Das provided security for screen icons, such as Mammootty, Mohanlal, Vijay, Ajith and Suriya at the movie sets and also on the locations of many channel shows.
Das, also known as Christhu Das, breathed his last while undergoing treatment for jaundice.
Pioneer of personal security
It was Das who first started the concept of a security team in Malayalam cinema.
The 6-foot, 3 inch tall Das did odd jobs at the sets before becoming the security man. He had a short stint in the Gulf too. But he came back home soon realizing that film industry was his true calling.
He began his career by providing personal security services on the sets of Mohanlal-starrer Sradha. He then provided security to Mammootty in Palunku. Since then, there was no looking back for Das who went on to become an integral part of the south Indian film industry for the last 25 years.
He owned a premium security wing and 25 person worked under him. The team provided security services to all events related to cinema and stars.
Das’ security team has been in the forefront, protecting the stars from unruly fans and overzealous admirers.
Das, who was fondly called ‘crowd Dasan’ by his friends in the industry, was just 15 years when he began his incredible association with the cinema industry.
After Sradha, Das controlled crowd in many Mohanlal movie locations. Later, Das worked as a bodyguard on the sets of Mammootty and Dileep. He provided security services at Vijay-movie sets in Tamil and Pavan Kalyan’s sets in Telugu.
Das was a body guard on the sets of Bollywood movies Billu Barber and Khatta Meetta, bothdirected by Priyadarshan.
“I had felt close to the cinema industry while I was working for Kireedam Unni. But I flew to the Gulf when I got a job in a super market in Muscat. I became part of the cinema industry when I returned. Even though I experienced lots of unsavory incidents form the people, I loved cinema and stars. In fact, cinema was my life,” Das had said.
Tough task
In an interview, Das had said that providing security services on the sets of Paleri Manikyam was the toughest task.
His comments that while a team of 10 bodyguards arranged security services at Mammootty’s sets, Mohanlal required at least 20 had become viral recently.
Das had done small roles in a few movies as well. He had said that it was he who received a kick from Mammootty’s character in a scene in the movie Mission 90 Days.
