Innocent Vareed Thekkethala (28 February 1948 – 26 March 2023), known simply as Innocent, was an Indian actor, comedian, film producer and politician. He appeared in more than seven hundred Malayalam films, speaking in the dialect of his native Thrissur, and was one of the most popular comic actors the industry has produced. He was president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists for some fifteen years, wrote a best-selling memoir of his treatment for cancer, and sat in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Innocent Vareed Thekkethala |
| Born | 28 February 1948, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur district, Kerala |
| Died | 26 March 2023 (aged 75), Kochi |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, producer, politician |
| Years active | 1972–2023 |
| Known for | Ramji Rao Speaking, Mazhavilkavadi, Kilukkam, Godfather, Vietnam Colony, Devasuram, Manichitrathazhu, Kabooliwala |
| Office | Member of the Lok Sabha, Chalakudy (2014–2019) |
| Spouse | Alice |
| Children | 1 son |
Early Life
Innocent was born at Irinjalakuda into a large family, the son of Vareed Thekkethala. He attended three schools and left after the eighth standard, a history he later turned into a running joke. He went to Madras hoping to enter films and worked as a production assistant. He also tried business, running a matchbox factory at Davangere in Karnataka and other ventures, all of which failed. Back in Irinjalakuda he was elected a municipal councillor in 1979.
Film Career
Producer and small parts
His first screen appearance was in Nrithasala (1972). In the early 1980s he was a partner in a production company that made several serious, well-regarded films, including Vida Parayum Munpe and Ormakkayi, and lost money on them.
Comedian
From the mid-1980s he became indispensable to Malayalam comedy. His characters were pompous, cowardly, sly or bewildered, and always spoke in the drawling Thrissur accent. Among the best remembered are Mannar Mathai, the owner of a failing drama troupe, in Ramji Rao Speaking (1989) and its sequels; the servant Kittunni in Kilukkam (1991), who believes he has won the lottery; and his roles in Mazhavilkavadi, for which he won a Kerala State Film Award, Godfather, Vietnam Colony, Kabooliwala and Manichitrathazhu. He was a regular in the films of the directors Siddique–Lal, Priyadarshan and Sathyan Anthikad.
He was equally effective in serious parts, notably as the loyal friend Warrier in Devasuram (1993) and in Keli, Kathodu Kathoram and Pathaam Nilayile Theevandi (2009), a study of a father in a mental hospital for which he won critics’ awards.
Association president
He was president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists from the early 2000s until 2018, a period in which the body built a welfare fund for older actors and also faced criticism for its handling of disputes with directors, producers and, in 2017, of the assault on an actress.
Cancer and Writing
He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2012 and underwent treatment; his wife, Alice, was treated for cancer soon afterwards. He described the experience, with characteristic jokes at his own expense, in the book Cancer Wardile Chiri (“Laughter in the Cancer Ward”), which ran through many editions, was translated into several languages and was included in school reading in Kerala. He wrote other volumes of memoir and humorous essays.
Politics
A long-time sympathiser of the left, he contested the Lok Sabha election of 2014 from Chalakudy as an independent backed by the Left Democratic Front and defeated a senior Congress leader. In Parliament he spoke about cancer care and the cost of medicines. He lost the seat in 2019.
Death
He was admitted to hospital in Kochi in March 2023 with respiratory problems following Covid-19 and died on 26 March. He was buried at Irinjalakuda after a public funeral attended by many thousands. His son, Sonnet, and grandchildren survive him.
Featured image: Innocent in 2011. Photo by an unknown photographer, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
