It was a dream come true moment for Balachandra Menon, actor, writer and director of Malayalam cinema, as he was enrolled as a lawyer on Sunday.
Though he has donned the role of a lawyer a few times in ‘reel life’, it took him 22 years to become a lawyer in real life.
Mr. Menon’s dream was fulfilled in a special way. He was the first one to be enrolled from among 376 candidates who lined up at the Kerala High Court auditorium. The chief guest, Manjula Chellur, the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala, mentioned his name, the only one to get the privilege, in her address.
As Mr. Menon walked up to the dais to receive the enrolment certificate, the crowd including fellow law graduates cheered him. The actor later said that he was planning to begin the work of his new movie and would practise when time permitted. Mr. Menon was joined by Lisamma Augustine, wife of former MP, Dr. Sebastian Paul.
Ms. Augustine had earlier served as the judicial member of the Chennai Bench of the Company law Board.
Gayathri Krishnan, daughter of N. K. Balakrishnan, judge of the High Court of Kerala, was also enrolled. In her address, Ms. Chellur said that there was shortage of good litigation lawyers. The judiciary was finding it difficult to pick good litigation lawyers to the Bench, she said. C. Sreedharan Nair, chairman of the Bar Council of Kerala, presided over the function.
