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'I would have been surprised if he hadn't won any National Awards!'

Shobha Warrier

Theirs was a combination that was ragingly popular.

And that is understating it.

It didn't start that way. When Mammootty arrived on the film scene, Seema was already a star.

But then, Malayalam cinema saw, in Mammootty and Seema, a pair that the 1980s were made of. Like Prem Naseer and Sheela before them, the two made cinematic magic together.

The actress recaptures some of that magic here:

I saw a man sitting confidently in a corner on the sets. His bearing struck me as most unusal for someone who had yet to complete a year in films. The man's confidence was impressive.

So, I went to him and said, "I am Seema." Without batting a lid, he introduced himself in that now-famous, thundering voice, "I am Mammootty."

It was January 1981. The film was Sphotanam.

Mammootty was the first actor I costarred with after I got married.

That he was a good actor and that he would be appreciated was pretty obvious during the course of that shoot. He didn't have much scope to display his obvious stalent in Sphotanam, but it shone through in the films we did together later.

Some memorable films were Aksharangal, Anubandham, Vartha, among countless others.

IT was with Sandhyakku Virinja Poovu that we became a hit pair. Most of the films that followed were big successes.

Later, Sasiyettan (husband I V Sasi), Mammookka (Mammootty, as he is affectionately known), Mohanlal, Century Kochumon and I got together and formed a production company. We made some very successful films like Nadodikkattu, Gandhi Nagar Second Street, Adiyozhukkukal and Karimpin Komin Akkara.

In those days, it was unheard of for filmstars to form production companies. Now I hear many actors in the Hindi film industry are doing so.

In our case, the idea originated on the spur of the moment. But unfortunately, we couldn't continue making films -- all of us got busy, and thethe team broke off.

He's such a fine actor. Everybody knows that. I would have been surprised if he hadn't won a National Award. Very surprised, indeed. And I'm happy he has won not one, but three!

He is also a very nice person. Now, it's not Mammookka, but his wife, Sulu, who I'm very close to. I met her on the sets of Thataakam in Kashmir. My daughter was only four months old, and I had taken her along with me.

Surmi, their one-year-old daughter was there, too. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I have Mammookka to thank for that!

Photograph: Sanjay Ghosh

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