While talking about the arrogant behaviour of senior Malayalam actors, KS Sethumadhavan, who was one of the senior-most directors in the South Indian film industry, once opened up about the behaviour of Malayalam actors Sathyan and Prem Nazir on the shooting set and the respect they used to give to the directors. 

Sethumadhavan was shooting the movie 'Kannum Karalum' in 1961. It was his second film in Malayalam. Sathyan, the megastar of that time, was the lead actor. Sethumadhavan who was just 28 years old and a newcomer to the film industry was tensed about how to handle a senior actor like Sathyan. Suddenly, Sathyan came to the set with a pleasant smile and said ''Good Morning Director Sir ''. Sethumadhavan’s confidence doubled when Sathyan called him ‘Sir’. 

Sethumadhavan had once shared his unforgettable experience with Nazir during a shoot. Nazir and Thikkurissi were smoking in front of the camera once. Sethumadhavan did not like that improper behaviour and said, "this is a holy place. I don’t even like cracking dirty jokes in front of the camera. If you want to smoke, you can go out and smoke." Both the actors obediently walked away from the set. 

Sethumadhavan had shared his unique experience working with MGR during an interview. It was the first day of the shooting of 'Nale Namathe'. The shooting was scheduled to start at 9 am. But MGR arrived at 10.45 am. This repeated the next day too.

In a wave of uncontrollable anger, Sethumadhavan directly said to MGR's face, "When are you coming tomorrow?" The audience in the studio was shocked. Nobody dared to talk to MGR in such a manner. '' If you're coming tomorrow at 10.45, I have to reschedule the time of the entire crew as well. You can't just waste time''. 

The next day, when Sethumadhavan arrived at the studio at 9 am, MGR was present there. He was ready to start shooting. Sethumadhavan shared that modesty is never an inferior emotion and that arrogance will never help to succeed in life.