India: From labourer to celebrity model; meet Kerala's new social media star

It must be the quickest makeover: from being a daily wage earner, dressed in an unbuttoned shirt and a lungi on the streets of Kerala to a celebrity model posing for and endorsing expensive blazers and trousers.

Mammikka, the 60-year-old labourer in Vennakkad, Kodivalli in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, is grateful to photographer Shareek Vayalil, who spotted him on the road recently. The photographer saw a strong resemblance between the worker and actor and music composer Vinayakan T.K., who has featured in several Malayalam movies.

Shareek took some photographs of Mammikka and posted it on social media, where it went viral. He then asked the labourer to dress up in a suit carry an iPad in his hand and pose for a video, which he posted on his Instagram page and that too has gone viral. He now plans to assign several modelling assignments to him.

Mammikka was quick to realise the potential he has as a model and has put up his own Instagram page.

And he is happy with the response from viewers; he told the media that he would continue modelling if he gets the right offers.

• India