Till Ishti happened Anoop Krishnan was one of those hopeful dreamers. Acting was what he always wanted to do but that was not what his family demanded. Anoop was not sure if he really had the talent; no one vouched for that. But there was this flaming desire that pushed him on. Friends recommended his name to filmmakers and small roles came his way. But Ishti was a big break that came out of the blue. And he is still in a daze.
Ishti was the country’s first Sanskrit film that dealt with a social theme. The film, directed by G. Prabha, opened the Indian Panorama section at the 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa recently. “Being invited to be part of the occasion, treated like a star right from the time you stepped out of the flight, being lauded by eminent people of the film fraternity, addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the event... it was all like a dream, one that I never wanted to end,” says Anoop.
Anoop Krishnan in a scene from Ishti.
The film centres around the 70-year-old Ramavikraman Namboodiri, a Vedic scholar who has completed a Soma yaga and been elevated as a ‘somayaji.’ His goal is to conduct an agni yagna and become an ‘akkithiri.’ He, despite protests from his first wife and son and despite dwindling family fortunes chases this goal. And to realise this, he gets married, his third marriage, to Sreedevi.
Anoop plays Namboodiri’s son from the first marriage. He, inspired by Sreedevi, rebels against time-worn traditions. “The role was a challenge in many ways. First, it was in Sanskrit and I had to learn to mouth the dialogues while keeping my emotions intact. My character demanded I learn to make Kathakali koppu (headgear and accessories) and also perform Kathakali in a couple of scenes. I spent nearly two weeks in Vellinezhi and studied a bit from Ramankutty Asan, the sole practitioner of the art. Kalamandalam Santhosh and Kalamandalam Prasanth taught me the basics of Kathakali for I had to perform two padams in the film. Also, I was asked to shed weight, which took some effort.”
The young actor, who hails from Pattambi in Palakkad district, took early steps in acting while at school and college. This became a serious fad during his under graduate days at Sree Neelakanta Government Sanskrit College, Pattambi. “By now my parents had come to know about my ‘future plans’ and decided firmly that I should find a job. So, for a while I worked in Bangalore and then returned to Thrissur to work with a jewellery group. I began anchoring shows, which I still do today. That’s when I landed my first film - Face in Facebook, directed by Jibin James. The film was not released.”
Anoop did a small role in the Mammootty-starrer Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus . But it was his meeting with music director and music producer Sunny Viswanath that proved to be a turning point in his career. Sunny took Anoop under his wing. Through Sunny, Anoop found a role in Shibu Gangadharan’s Praise The Lord and in Balachandra Menon’s Njan Samvidhanam Cheyyum .
“All these were not important roles but to be in the circuit was a big thing. By then I had given up my job. My family did not know of this. But I had decided to survive emotionally and professionally in this field. What kept me going was Sunny Sir’s support. He also does a lot of stage events where I always had a role. He also told me that to be an actor one had to learn what it was like behind the camera. He made me direct a few of his music videos.”
Anoop has just completed the shoot for the film Sarvopari Palakkaran , directed by Venugopan in which he plays an “okay role” and has also been cast in Badal directed by G. Ajayan. He is also playing an important role in ‘Maamaattikutti’, a television serial scheduled to be aired on Flowers.
