I felt like squirrel that helped Rama: Mohan Raman
"I was approached by a member of the film chamber few months back requesting me to suggest names of actors from south to be honoured through postal stamps. I suggested few names from all four southern film industries and to my surprise a few from the list I had recommended were honoured," Mohan told IANS.
"I felt like the squirrel that helped lord Rama in building the bridge in the 'Ramayana'. I'm extremely happy with the list and feel everyone in it truly deserved the honour," added the actor known for his work in Tamil films such as Mahanadi, Minsara Kanavu, Padayappa and Kuselan.
The postal stamps were of Ashok Kumar, Dev Anand, Yash Chopra, Smita Patil, Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Geeta Dutt and Tapan Sinha among others.
From the South, CV Sridhar, Bhanumathi, SV Ranga Rao, Nagesh, Kannadasan, Vishnuvardhan, TR Sundaram and Allu Ramalingaiah were honoured.
But
what
upset
Mohan
was
that
the
family
members
of
these
luminaries
were
unaware
about
the
news.
"Since
I
recommended
few
names,
I
personally
called
to
congratulate
them.
I
spoke
to
Mrs
Sridhar,
Gandhi
Kannadasan,
son
of
Kannadasan,
Rajesh
Babu,
son
of
Nagesh,
Bharani,
son
of
Bhanumathi
and
Ranga
Rao's
grandson.
I
was
saddened
to
know
none
of
these
family
members
were
informed
about
the
rare
honour
by
the
authorities,"
he
said.
"I believe their family members deserve to know much in advance than knowing from well wishers and newspapers," Raman added.
How
did
cinema
stamps
gain
popularity?
"Cinema
stamps
grew
popular
worldwide
when
United
Nations
first
launched
a
stamp
of
late
actress
Marilyn
Monroe
in
1995.
Every
other
country
followed
suit
and
after
several
years,
India
too
followed
the
trend,"
said
Raman.
Mohan has also been awarded medals for his collection of film stamps.