Sreenivasan once tricked Innocent into transferring all his real-life property to him during film shoot

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When Sreenivasan pranked Innocent

Renowned for their sense of humour both in cinema and in real life, the two easily took over a(ny) crowd with their words and actions. And, sometimes they went one step further and even pulled each other’s legs. In fact, the legendary screenwriter-actor once tricked Innocent into transferring all his properties to him by making him sign actual legal stamp paper during a film shoot. Upon learning about it, the comedic legend rushed to Sreenivasan, cursing him for trying to make his wife and children homeless.

“In the movie Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam (1986), there is a scene in which Kunjikannan Nair (Innocent) gives a written agreement on stamp paper to Gopalakrishna Panikkar (Mohanlal). For the shoot, we prepared the note on actual legal stamp paper,” Sreenivasan reportedly wrote in Vanitha. However, instead of random lines or what the scene demanded, the screenwriter-actor had something else written on the stamp paper.

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‘Will you throw my wife, kids onto the streets?’

He wrote, “I, Innocent, son of Vareed of Thekkethala House, Irinjalakuda, am transferring all my movable and immovable properties to Pattiom Sreenivasan.” During the shoot, Innocent signed the document and finished the scene without checking what was written.

Sreenivasan added, “After the scene was over, I believe it was director Sathyan Anthikkad who teased him, asking, ‘Innocent, was there any need for this? You’ve just lost all the wealth you worked so hard for all these years.’ When Innocent realised what had happened, he came straight to me and scolded me, saying, ‘Are you going to throw my wife and children onto the streets?'”

Sreenivasan had also previously shared that Innocent was one of the few people who helped him during his wedding. Apparently, Innocent gave Sreenivasan Rs 400 by pawning his wife Alice’s bangles for his journey home from Madras (now Chennai) and other expenses. The screenwriter-actor said at a public event, “With Rs 400 from a Christian and money given by a Muslim Mammootty, I tied a golden tali around my Hindu wife. What religion, whose religion, where’s religion?”

About Innocent and Sreenivasan

Aside from being an actor, Innocent was also a producer, writer, and politician, who served as an MP in the Lok Sabha representing the Chalakudy constituency from 2014 to 2019. A cancer survivor, he passed away at the age of 75 in 2023 due to complications from Covid-19.

One of the most celebrated screenwriters in Malayalam cinema, Sreenivasan was a recipient of several Kerala State Film Awards. He passed away at 69 in Thrippunithura, Ernakulam district, on December 20, 2025. Both his sons, Vineeth Sreenivasan and Dhyan Sreenivasan, are renowned in Tinseltown as actor-directors.