Mumbai: Since my childhood I have been fascinated with khaki. This was a dream nurtured in me by my dad who wanted me to join the Indian Police Service. Even at home, I was always surrounded by dad’s police officer friends. I was intrigued by the heroic deeds of Vishwanatha Pillai, a legendary cop in the early 1980s.
Right from my first cop movie, 'Niraparadi', I have an emotional connection with khaki uniform. Even in my dreams, I'm always in a police costume and chasing goons.
When I play a cop, I think beyond the script and bring in my own nuances and incorporate some of the mannerisms of real-life officers who have inspired me. The audience acceptance might be partly due to the fact that they don’t think I am acting. For them, I am forever battling evil-doers.
Whenever I don khaki, I become emotionally-charged up, and feel a strong urge to fight injustice. At times, I find it hard to shrug off the character even when the shot is over. Thanks to this obsession, I have a collection of khaki uniforms, as well as IPS caps at home. Whenever I see the uniform on a hanger, I feel a vibration within me.
As to the charge of being stereotyped, the fact remains that I am seldom offered anything other than cop roles. It is strange how this role-reversal happened. In the mid-1990s, I was readily accepted as a soft romantic/family man. I wanted to do sequels of my successful films like 'Lelam', 'Pathram' and 'Chintamany Kola Case', where I played varied characters, but, somehow, the projects kept getting postponed. As an actor, it is frustrating.
I am thirsty to play diverse roles, although I am never bored of donning the khaki. What can I do if directors like to take the easy way out and brand me as a cop-movie specialist?
Currently I am getting to replay one of my iconic cop roles from the 90s—Bharath Chandran IPS from 'Commissioner' in Shaji Kailas's 'The King and the Commissioner'. It is definitely thrilling, but at the same time challenging to bring it to a different level and live up to the audience expectations. But this time the movie is set in Delhi and my character operates from there. I am sharing screen space with Mammootty who plays Joseph Alex.
There is no semblance to the original, and this includes the script and presentation, because audience tastes have changed. But even now, the upright and plain-speaking Bharat Chandran remains the most popular of my cop roles and was a major breakthrough for my career at that time.
With Ranji Panicker, I don't need to worry about my role or script; we know each other very well. In the end, it is not easy to have an image of a larger-than-life cop in cinema. But then, there is nothing to beat the thrill of wearing khaki!
Comments
0 comment