When the Kerala State Film Awards were announced, Mohanlal was shooting for Satyan Anthikad's Rasathantram somewhere in the interiors of Idukki district in Kerala.
As Mohanlal had won the Best Actor award for his performance in Thanmatra, all the television channels and newspapers swamped the location for his reaction.
When the television channels interviewed Mohanlal on the sets, nobody paid any attention to a young boy walking around in a shirt and lungi, sporting a tiny moustache. In fact, in most of Mohanlal's television interviews, this boy was seen in the background.
Nobody recognised him.
Actually, that boy is Meera Jasmine, a National Award-winning actress.
In the first half of Rasathantram, Meera's character disguises herself as a man, to protect herself from men.
This is not the first time that an actress is acting as a boy in the major portion of a Malayalam film.
There was Annie living with quite a few men in a house as a boy servant in Ammayane Satyam, directed by Balachandra Menon.
There are several interesting things about Rasathantram. Sathyan and Mohanlal, who have teamed up for nearly 20 films --most of them still remembered and relished -- are back together after a long gap of 12 years.
This is the first time that Mohanlal and Meera Jasmine are acting together in a film.
In all the earlier Satyan films, Mohanlal played characters with a terrific sense of humour. In Rasathantram also, his carpenter Premachandran Asari has an excellent sense of humour.
Rasathantram is produced by Mohanlal's driver Anthony Perumbavoor, who has made several blockbusters before. The film was shot in the beautiful locales of Moolamattam in Idukki district of Kerala.
Another unique feature of this film is that it has three National Award winners in it: Mohanlal, Bharat Gopi and Meera Jasmine.
