Will Kerala Communist veteran VS Achuthanandan’s personal charisma draw the crowds to the theatres, just as it happens all the time in any Left political rally in the state? 

A Malayalam movie ‘Campus Diary’ starring the nonagenarian hit the screens on Friday.  The plot deals with how politics plays out on the college campus with a few environmental issues thrown in. VS puts in a guest appearance in the film, playing himself on the big screen.

Achuthanandan who turns 93 in October, appears in a couple of scene as a populist leader who extends support to students agitating over environmental issues. He even did his own dubbing in the studio for a speech he delivers in the course of the movie  -the only dialogue he gets to say…or would that be a monologue!

The shooting was held at Koothuparamba in Kannur. Sudev Nair, Thalaivasal Vijay, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Mamukkoya, Sunil Sukhada Gautami Nair, Joy Mathew and Kottayan Naseer are the other prominent faces in the movie.

The shrewd tactician that he is, VS did not forget to wish luck to another movie that was released alongside his on the same day. He extended his best wishes to ‘Kuttikalundu Sookshikkuka’ (Kids are here, Beware!) directed by journalist and writer Kalavoor Ravikumar.

“Kuttikalundu Sookshikkuka portrays the relationship between a father and his child, and also deals with a few problems faced by the country. I could not attend its screening, even though I was invited. But I will definitely watch it in a theatre. I wish you good luck,” he wrote in a letter addressed to the movie director.