Dulquer Salmaan on KPAC Lalitha: She was magic, wearing her genius as lightly as her smile

Veteran actress KPAC Lalitha, who passed away on Tuesday due to liver-related ailments, left an indelible impression not only in the hearts and minds of her audience, but also her co-workers. Since her demise, actors from different generations have been paying tributes to Lalitha, who has worked in over 550 films in her career spanning 40-odd years. The latest is Dulquer Salmaan, who shared screen space with her in Anoop Sathyan’s Varane Avashyamund .

While they weren’t mother and son in the film, the relationship onscreen was reflected the same, with Lalitha, essaying the role of a serial actress who takes care of Dulquer’s character Bibeesh and his brother, after their parents’ demise.

Dulquer shared a moving social media post on Wednesday, lauding the actress’ genius while calling her his “best on screen pairing”. “I’ve never felt more alive in a scene cause she transcended the written word (sic),” he wrote, posting photos from the last day at the sets of the 2020 movie.

The Kurup and Hey Sinamika actor also said that she kept telling him that they should next do a movie where they play mother-son duo who are “constantly bickering”. “I thought we had time,” he wrote, while sharing how they usually begin their messages to each other with ‘Chakkare Evideya?’

On Tuesday night, Mammootty took to his social media page to share that “I have lost someone who is very, very dear to me”. Mammootty and Lalitha had acted together in several superhits including Mathilukal, Amaram, Kottayam Kunjachan, Hitler, Chronic Bachelor and Best Actor. Her performance in Amaram won her the National Award for the Second Best Actor. Lalitha is also part of Mammootty’s upcoming gangster-thriller Bheeshma Parvam, in which she plays the role of Karthiyayaniamma.

The actress, who was 74, is survived by her son and filmmaker Siddharth and daughter Sreekutty.

Also read: Jayaram: I have survived in films only because legends such as KPAC Lalitha, Nedumudi Venu performed with me