Anticipation and expectation are written all over actor Biyon’s face. The reason is the release of Joe Eswar’s Kunthapura , a period film in which he plays an important role.
His curly hair restrained by a hair-band, the soft-spoken actor reveals that there is more to his career. There is something vaguely familiar about him. He reveals he has acted in 53 films. “Some of the films,” he rattles off, “ Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha , Bharatham , Kakka Thollayiram , Chronic Bachelor , Thenkasi Pattanam , and Kakkakum Poochakkum Kalyanam .”
Tell him he looks a tad young to have acted in these films, he smiles, “as a child actor, of course.” He was to have appeared as the young Chanthu in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha but couldn’t. He was, however, one among the child artistes in the film.
It was an advertisement in a newspaper, seeking a child artiste, that led him to the audition of Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha… “I must have had a flair for acting that my parents saw and encouraged me,” says the Kozhikode-based actor. He has essayed the childhood versions of Mohanlal, Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Mukesh and Dileep to name a few top actors.
That was in the past. He has grown up and the flair has grown into a passion for cinema. Strong enough for him to quit a ‘steady and paying job’ for the ‘gamble of cinema.’ He has acted in Red Chillies , Thirakkatha and Dr. Love besides an impressively long list of films.
He acted with Priyamani in the ‘Paalapoov…’ song in Thirakkatha . “My get-up has been different in each film which is why people cannot place where they have seen me before,” he says.
His current projects include a remake of Bharathan’s Parankimala . Kunthapura , he says, is a project that is close to his heart.
The transition from a child artiste to an adult actor is tough and without guarantee of success, but Biyon hopes to make the cut by sheer dint of his talent.
