If the name Santhosh Keezhattoore doesn’t ring a bell, the character he played, Kallan Kunjunni, sure will. As the magician-thief in Lal Jose’s Vikramadityan , Santhosh struck a chord with the masses.
Though he had done a handful of roles in films, none had brought him the recognition that Kallan Kunjunni did, he says. After Vikramadityan , Santhosh is a well-known face. He has done about 13 films including Varsham , Oru Vadakkan Selfie and Mariyam Mukku to name a few. He stars in Ranjith’s Loham and is currently shooting for Sibi Malayil’s Saigal Paadugayanu , where he will be playing a negative role.
Santhosh was in Kochi recently performing a one-man show, Penn Nadan , directed and co-written by him.
Essentially a theatre person, having spent 20 years of his life travelling from one stage to another, directing and acting in plays, Santhosh says, his entry into cinema was not planned. A chance meeting with director Lohitadas resulted in his first film break. “It was a small, but noticeable role as Prithviraj’s brother in Chakram in 2004 . But somehow, I found cinema an indifferent medium. I thought I was not made for it. I felt that I belonged to theatre alone. There was nothing compared to the feeling of being on stage,” he says.
After this brief stint with the celluloid, he went back to theatre and short-filmmaking, which had by then become a passion. “That was when I met director T.V. Chandran and decided to assist him.” Santhosh assisted Chandran in four of his films. The experience rekindled in Santhosh the interest in films. “In between my theatre, I had also kept abreast of films by watching short films and going to all the major festivals,” he says.
An opportunity to work as director Kamal’s assistant followed soon. It was also the time Santhosh was consumed by the idea of staging ‘Penn Nadan’. The play, which is based on former actor Ochira Velukutty Asan, who immortalised female characters on stage, was a dream project of sorts. “I was busy scripting and conceptualising it. The team and I decided to do it as a one-man show,” he says. Thus, in the throes of creative activity, Santhosh had forgotten to shave. He had a mean stubble and a full moustache. “That is when Lal Jose sir called with Kallan Kunjunni’s role. The stubble and the moustache were just apt for the role, he told me,” says Santhosh. “Had he called a week later, I would have been clean shaven for my play.”
Santhosh was born and brought up in Keezhattoore, a small village in Thalipparambu, Kannur. Right from the age of 12, he was exposed to theatre, doing small time plays rustled up by local actors and aficionados. “Though my family did not have any actors, they were very supportive of my interest in theatre,” he says.
He and his friends who shared the interest in drama built a temporary shed close to his house where they practised. It was after his pre-degree that he began to consider theatre with a scholarly interest. His days were consumed by theatre. “There have been times when I have played 340 plays in a year. That was when I realised that theatre was indeed my true calling.”
Santhosh even got to spend a year at Mallika Sarabhai’s Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in Ahmedabad. “Though it was only for one year, I got a wealth of experience in all the aspects of theatre,” he says.
Awards found their way to him (including the State award for best actor in 2006) but, passion never brought in the moolah. “It was not a ‘career’ that promised a fat pay packet.” So films came in handy.
“Cinema demands a totally different set of skills. While body language and acting are very important on stage, in front of the movie camera, one just needs to behave. The transition was tough, but I guess I learnt it quickly,” Santhosh says.
Kallan Kunjunni, for instance, demanded work. “I had to lose some weight. I went to the gym and dieted as I had to physically get into the character. Whereas on stage, one cannot afford to lose oneself in the character. One needs to remember that he is an actor, other wise improvisations would be difficult,” he says.
Even as Santhosh’s days get busier with shooting schedules packed in, he finds time for theatre. He watches plays, writes, reads and there are days when the mind is filled with a play, he says.
Penn Nadan , which was staged for the first time in Kochi last week, was almost like a dream come true, he says. Essaying female characters is a challenge and Santhosh pulled it off effortlessly. As Ochira Velukutty on stage, he transformed from one Kumaranasan character to another. As Nalini, Leela, Sita and Vasavadatta, he danced, dressed (draping a sari gracefully in a few seconds), acted and lived the roles.
Santhosh, who has a prominent Kannur accent, says he takes pride in it as it is his identity, but would go neutral if the character so demands. “Whether it is theatre or cinema, I can only speak like me. Only that will be honest,” he signs off.
