Becoming Tito, again

Actor Tito Wilson on shedding Angamali Diaries’ U-Clamp Rajan image and essaying varied roles

For the last year or so, since the release of Angamali Diaries , he has been U-Clamp Rajan or simply, Rajan. Even his mother, jokingly, had started calling him Rajan. But as Sudhi to Tovino Thomas’ Maradona, in Maradona , Tito Wilson says he has got his name back, adds laughing, “I am finally Tito again.”

As Maradona’s best friend and partner in crime, Tito Wilson won many hearts. The character has shades of grey but unlike Rajan, there is a lovable aspect to Sudhi. He had followed up Angamali... with Pokkiri Simon and Swatanthryam Ardharathriyil , both, again, negative characters. “I was apprehensive about the roles, all were villain-type characters. But yes, after Maradona , life has changed,” says Tito, over phone, from Thrissur. The 25-year old actor is in discussions for his next projects, he doesn’t want to reveal anything now.

“Like everybody else I too have nursed the cinema dream forever. Who doesn’t dream of cinema?” his reply to the question about when he decides to become an actor. The graduate in Malayalam felt that, if he wanted to make the cut as actor then he needed to prepare himself— “ to create a background for myself”. That happened at the School of Drama and Fine Arts at the Dr. John Mathai Centre, Thrissur.

A few months short of completing the course, he auditioned for

Angamali Diaries and landed a role in it. “I was very happy since it was a Lijo Jose Pellisserry film; there was a three-day camp, Chemban (Vinod Jose) chettan also met us. Everybody was very hands-on and involved. It was a fabulous experience,” he says. With around 86 new faces, the film was something of a record with the number of newbie actors in a film. “There was anxiety, of course, with so many new faces, so many lives featured, whether one would get lost in the crowd. But we were confident that since Lijo- ettan and Chemban chettan were involved it would work out fine.”

The roles that followed U-Clamp Rajan were in the same vein, a newcomer doesn’t have the luxury of worrying about being typecast. But with Maradona , he hopes he would get to essay a wider variety of characters. The film took time releasing, but he is glad it came out when it did. “After all Maradona has changed the perception of me as Rajan, given me back my name, and hopefully more, different roles.”