The elections came a
nd went and as we wait for the results I recall an incident that happened in Calicut. The ruling UDF decided to call upon Mamukoya (a.k.a Gafoor ka dost – a famous role he played as a cheat! ), the famous comedian of Malayalam cinema to entertain the crowd and to coax them into voting for their candidate. Calling a local celebrity is a ruse the world over and in India, the religion or the community the celebrity represents, plays an important part in the decision-making. Mamukoya is a Muslim and Calicut has a large Muslim population.
Mamukoya has entertained people all over Kerala with his humour and the people of Calicut hold him in high regard. There are so many jokes made with him as the central character that he has attained quite a following. The man famous for his uneven protruding teeth was once asked by a film scribe, “Sir, your teeth defines you, can you say something about it?” Pat came the reply, “my teeth were like jasmine buds when I was a child”. The reporter was smirking when he asked, “but sir what happened to them?” Mamukoya famously said, “like all buds… they bloomed”
Coming back to Mamukoya and his election speech… The stage was set and the UDF guys in their famous ‘white and white’ khadi clothes shone brightly as white as Mamukoya’s teeth were all looking forward to the great man’s entertaining speech. Amidst all the false promises and taking credit for all the developments that happened they awaited for Mamukoya’s humour and for him to end with a note to vote for their candidate.
Mamukoya began by calling out to his townspeople in the local style in his thick Calicut slang. The crowd went into raptures, he told the crowd to calm down and unlike his usual self went on to give a ‘teepori prasangam‘- a fiery speech. He spoke about the UDF and their promises which were not kept, recalled each and everything about the previous election and even went on to tell the people to NOT VOTE for the present candidate or for the UDF!
The red-faced UDF guys did not know what hit them. The crowd was in tears laughing and the reporters had a field day. Needless to say that was Mamukoya’s last election speech. The UDF guys still shiver like leaves when they recall the incident. Gafoor ka dost was indeed a Brutus, a Judas!
Campaigning has always been a decisive factor in any elections, and what a way to win the credibility of the innocent voters by roping in big screen stars whom people worship or trust blindly.
This all shows how filthy our political system has become, that these leaders are asking votes not with their identity or trust, but on the ground of the goodwill of these celebs, who have nothing to do with all this.
Interesting! Mamukoya, a good footballer, might have scored many goals in the game. It’s great to read that he knows how to score goals with his witty words too. Still, it was unfair of him to speak against the UDF at their expense, grabbing the mike for which they made the pay. He could have organised a meeting himself to speak about the politicians, who deserve it indeed. But because the politicians grab our votes and then forget us and do all sorts of mean things to us, Mamukoya can be pardoned.
Well maybe Mamukoya was ticked off that the UDF was making tall claims and changed his ideas. He was a footballer?