Throwback Thursday: How Jabbar Patel convinced Mammootty to play Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar after SRK's refusal

One of the Malayalam megastar Mammootty’s most magnificent performances, and his only foray into Hindi cinema was Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in 2000, directed by Jabbar Patel the avant-garde director of such seminal neo-classics in Marathi as Samna, Sinhasan, Umbartha and Jait Re Jait.

When Jabbar Patel decided to make a biopic on Dr Ambedkar he went to Shah Rukh Khan with the role. Shah Rukh politely declined; not out of disinterest, but respect.

When I asked him about it, the actor had said he can’t bring himself to play national icons “I wouldn’t mind playing Idi Amin. But I can’t play a real-life revered legend. Nobody would be interested in the character’s grey areas. That would be like blasphemy. There are lots of actors like Naseerbhai, Nana and Kamal Haasan who have very strong social or political convictions. They are suited to tackle such characters, but if I play Mahatma Gandhi I can’t do that. I don’t have the will, patience or perhaps even the talent to play real characters. Maybe I can do this five years down the line. But right now I can’t.”

This is where Mammootty came into the picture. Jabbar Patel saw the Malayalam superstar’s picture somewhere. He got Mammootty’s face photo-shopped as Dr Ambedkar and asked fellow filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan for an introduction.

Jabbar then flew to Cochi to meet Mammootty. The actor when met Jabbar said an outright no, arguing that he doesn’t do Hindi films. “Besides, I look nothing like the great man,” Mammootty argued.

Jabbar showed Mammootty the picture of the actor as Dr Ambedkar. That did it. Mammootty was convinced he could pull it off. However, there was one other hurdle to be crossed. Jabbar had to convince his Ambedkar to shave off his moustache.

Mammootty was horrified, “You can’t expect me to shave off my moustache. My fans would die of shock.”

“We can’t have Dr Ambedkar with a moustache,” Jabbar argued back quietly but firmly.

Then began actual preparation for the part. Dr Ambedkar spoke fluent Hindi, and Oxonian English. Mammootty was unversed in both. He learnt to master both the languages and eventually gave a rousing performance which fetched him the richly-deserved National award for best actor. Such were the nifty nuances in the performance that the mighty Dilip Kumar rang up Mammootty to congratulate him saying, “I couldn’t have done it.”

Looking back at the film and performance, it is worth noting that Mammootty’s Ambedkar is as immersive as Ben Kingsley’s Gandhi. As Jabbar Patel’s film had neither the clout, the marketing resources nor the firangi thappa it never got its due.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News _,_  Trending News _,_  Cricket News _,_  Bollywood News _,_  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook _,_  Twitter  and  Instagram _._