Director Siddique, Actor Lal, Rahman, Prasad, Ansar and Varkkichan Petta
Kochi: When the curtain rose, there were six men wearing jubba and pants on the stage. Varkkichan Petta was the anchor with his impressive and modulated voice. Soon Lal, Rahman, Prasad and Ansar joined him to crack the audience up.
Once, the Mimics Parade of Cochin Kalabhavan was the most popular show in Malayalam. On Tuesday, Mimics Parade will mark its 40th anniversary reminding the past glory of a show that could bring the house down.
The first Mimics Parade was staged at the Ernakulam Fine Arts hall on September 21, 1981. Earlier, mimicry was used as fillers during concerts. Inspired by Father Abel’s vision to popularise mimicry as a full-fledged programme, Siddique - Lal combo came forward to prepare the script of the first Mimics Parade.
As a trial, they staged the show on the Independence day of 1981 in front of the media persons. Following the success of it, the first show was performed grandly on September 21.
“Though the music shows of Kalabhavan were a super hit at that time, Father Abel gave huge support to Mimics Parade too. Even when the best singers received Rs 75 for a show, Father gave Rs 100 for each of us. Then I was working as an LD clerk and my monthly salary was Rs 230. We have thought of many titles for the show including Mimics Night, but at last we chose Mimics Parade. Mammootty and Sreenivasan were also there to see our first show”, recollected Siddique.
