The writer is at home on the big screen

Renji Panicker is on a roll as an actor

NEW INNINGS Writer-director and actor Renji Panicker

Renji Panicker seems to enjoy surprising himself and others in his many avatars of writer, director and, recently, actor.

After catching eyeballs as a jovial father in Jude Anthany Joseph’s Ohm Shanthi Oshaana ( OSO), the media person-turned-filmmaker goes for a change of image in Ranjith’s Njan . Renji plays the elite and feudal anti-national Valanchery Kutty Shankaran, a man of many faces.

“Educated abroad, Kutty Shankaran is an anti-national who is all for the British, like many of his ilk. Aware of all the international happenings, he is against the movement for freedom from the British yoke. He is one of the men who oppose Kottoor, the character played by Dulquer Salmaan. Yes, you could call him a villain,” says Renji with a laugh.

He admits he is amazed at the offers he gets to act as he had never suspected that there was an actor in him. “I am thoroughly enjoying my new role as an actor,” says Renji during a telephone interview. A small role in

Pakida , a favour for Biju Menon, has now made the successful writer-director a busy actor with a range of interesting roles in many films in the offing. It all began when Midhun Manuel Thomas, the scenarist of OSO, had dropped in on the sets of Pakida and stumbled upon Renji, the actor. A little later, Jude and Midhun gave Renji the script of the film and persuaded him to act as Dr. Mathew Devasya, the heroine’s unforgettable dad. “I am a father like that in real life to my twins Nikhil and Nithin. But not many people know that. I myself was not confident if I could pull off that character. I have this image of a serious, stiff-necked person. All credit to the director for fleshing out Dr. Mathew in me,” admits Renji.

Pleasant surprise The director and writer of macho films and characters playing a loving father came as a pleasant surprise to film viewers of Malayalam. After all the men of steel he had peopled his films with, here was the creator of those alpha men playing an indulgent father. A new generation of filmgoers suddenly got to know Renji, the actor. “And the reaction was overwhelming. People called up to congratulate me while many young girls came up and told me how they wanted their father to be like Dr. Mathew,” he says.

Then there was a role in Venu’s

Munnariyuppu followed by Kutty Shankaran in

Njan .

Donning the greasepaint What next? “There is Major Ravi’s Picket 43 , in which I play a Colonel Vinayachandran while in Money Ratnam I play Isaac Anakkadan, a superstitious moneybags who embarks on a journey with a bag full of money and loses it during his journey. That is again a fun-filled role. I have been lucky to get a wide variety of characters and not get typecast in a particular role.” In Alphonse Putharen’s Premam , he plays the dad again, this time to Nivin Pauly’s character.

The veteran writer of adrenaline-filled landmark films such as Commissioner , Thalasthanam, and The King , says creating a character and enacting it on screen is a different ball game altogether. As an actor, Renji prefers to be a director’s actor while as writer and director, he is the person in charge who helps his actors breathe life into the characters. “When I write, my characters all live with me. I talk to them, interact with them.. they are never far away from my mind and thoughts. When I direct, I am able to show my actors how a character walks or talks but when I act, I have to essay the character that the director has conceptualised. As an actor, I submit myself to my director’s vision,” explains Renji.

So is the director and writer in hibernation while the actor is having a field day?

A hearty laugh precedes the reply.

“I am writing again. When I write, I am a different person. I can only think of stories rooted in contemporary events; movies that reflect the anger, angst, anguish and cynicism of the common man. It is true that now those kind of films are missing from Malayalam cinema,” says Renji.

However, he promises to make up for the loss of political thrillers with a movie that bears the Renji Panicker stamp.