Prominent Malayalam actor Mammootty received an unexpected show of affection from a fan in Tamil Nadu when the latter rode his motorcycle for nearly 10 km to guide the actor’s car through an unfamiliar route after a highway was blocked.

Producer Anto Joseph, in a Facebook post on Friday evening, recalled the incident that took place after 3.30 am when Mammootty, actor-turned politician Ramesh Pisharody and others were returning to Kerala from Karaikudi, where they were shooting for a new film produced by Mammootty Kampany and directed by Nithish Sahadev.

The group got stuck at Tirupattur after the highway was blocked. Despite trying different routes suggested by Google Maps, they could not find a way through and, after nearly an hour, decided to return to their room in Karaikudi.

At Pattamangalam, they stopped at a petrol pump and sought directions from a young man. Another man, who had been sleeping nearby, came over and asked, “Are you Malayalis?” According to Joseph, the man looked inside the car, recognised Mammootty and excitedly told him, “Are you Mammootty sir? Follow me!” The man then rode his motorcycle for nearly 10 km, guiding the actor and his companions through roads that even Google Maps had not suggested.

“Just go straight. Kerala is right ahead,” the man reportedly told them while pointing the way.

Pisharody later wondered whether anyone would believe the man if he told them the next day that he had met Mammootty in the early hours and shown him the way.

Mammootty then got out of the car, took the man’s phone and handed it to Pisharody to take a photograph of him with the man who had guided them towards Kerala.

The man thanked Mammootty for the gesture and collected his phone from Pisharody, now containing a valuable photograph of him with the Malayalam megastar.

The actor then asked his name.

“Pandyan,” the man replied.

“PANDYAN, PAN INDIAN,” Pisharody commented, turning the late-night encounter into a warm moment of affection between a star and his fan.