Memories of Indian film director Sangeeth Sivan, my cricket companion from school days, will live on forever

By K.R. Nayar

For the entertainment world, Sangeeth Sivan, who passed away last week, was a renowned Indian film director, known for his wonderful Malayalam and Hindi films. He was also a screenwriter. But for me, he was someone I admired as a cricketer when we played together during our school and college days in Trivandrum.

 

Malayalam superstar Mohanlal takes a selfie withSangeeth Sivan

After he made two brilliant movies, Vyooham and Yodha, while the world discussed his films, I was reminded of the days when my friends and I would discuss his cricketing talent and look for ways to get his wicket. We often played against each other at the Medical College ground on matting wickets since there were no turf wickets those days. We also played together when former Kerala captain S. Ramesh picked us to play as guest players for Keltron. Sangeeth was not only brilliant in cricket but also in hockey.

 

Sangeeth Sivan with his hero Dharmendra whom he directed in a movie 

Sadly, after I moved to Mumbai, I lost touch with him. It was not surprising when during one of my visits to Kerala, I was told that Sangeeth Sivan had made a brilliant Malayalam movie (Yodha) with superstar Mohanlal. During our school days, Mohanlal too played cricket with us, and his first interaction with Sangeeth must have been as a cricketer. I was very excited to watch Yodha and I was proud of what Sangeeth had achieved. Incidentally, Yodha was also renowned music director A.R. Rahman’s first Malayalam project. Sangeeth’s elder brother is the renowned cinematographer and director Santosh Sivan. 

Sangeeth's father Sivan's still photograph from the movie 'Chemmeen'

Sangeeth's father Sivan owned the Siva studio in the heart of Trivandrum. Sivan had shot the stills for the Malayalam's award winning movie Chemmeen. 

 

Sangeeth Sivan (standing extreme left) as part of Mar Ivanios college hockey team 

In fact, we had planned to meet during the last ICC 50 Over World Cup in India. He had informed me that he was in Delhi for a shoot and that he would meet me in Mumbai. Unfortunately, our schedules did not align and we could not meet. 

Sangeeth Sivan with Anupam Kher and Bobby Deol 

I now realise life is so unpredictable, and that given an opportunity, one should not push meeting someone you haven't met in years. He always spoke about MS Dhoni, whom he virtually idolized, and once sent me a picture of Dhoni with his comments.

 

It was great to know from him that he had written the script for the Hindi movie ‘Bhram’. He was thrilled to hear that I acted in ‘2018’, and made sure to watch the movie. He was the executive producer of the 1989 Hindi film ‘Raakh’, starring Aamir Khan, for which his brother Santosh was the cinematographer.  Sangeeth then went on to direct Hindi movies like Zor, Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne, Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, Money Money, and Yamla Pagla Deewana 2. 

 

Sangeeth Sivan at the shooting of Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 wtih Dharmendra

Sangeeth was a big fan of the legendary Bollywood actor, Dharmendra, and would never miss any of his movies during our school days. So it was great to hear that he had directed his hero in Yamla Pagla Deewana2 in 2013. This movie also featured Dharmendra’s sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol. In the movie Zor, Sangeeth had directed another legendary actor Om Puri along with Sushmita Sen as the lead pair. 

 

For Sangeeth Sivan the camera was a constant companion 

All said and done, for me, Sangeeth will remain a cricketer who rose from the Medical College Cricket ground to become a director of legendary actors. He is another proof of a man whose dreams had no boundaries.