Singing his way into acting

Varun J. Thilak is familiar to all Malayalis who watched Asianet's 'Idea Star Singer' 2007. The star singer is now out to prove his talent as an actor and lyricist!

“Acting is something I discovered unexpectedly. We performed a ballet to celebrate the show's 100th episode and I played the lead role in the ballet, which caught the attention of Prabhakaran Muthana, the director of my first film 'Fiddle' in 2010."

Varun continues. “When Prabhakaran sir narrated the story, I asked him if I could sing instead. He was shocked. It was the first time that he had offered someone a acting role and the person wanted to sing instead! Interestingly, I sang my first film song for this movie," laughs Varun.

It was during the shooting of his first movie that he was offered the role to play Mohanlal's brother in B. Unnikrishnan's 'Madambi'.

“Unfortunately I couldn't accept the offer as I was already committed to another film. That was a golden opportunity I missed. If I ever meet Unnikrishnan sir, I will explain why I could not accept the offer," muses Varun.

However, once he decided to act, all fell into place. “I was not confident about my acting, but once I got involved, it became interesting. I was always interested in photography, so the happenings behind the camera attracted me. I plan to do a short film very soon," says Varun, who has an MBA degree.

Of his future plans Varun says, “I am coming out with an album titled 'Irulakalannu'. The first song is out and it is getting very good reviews, thanks to the social media."

Quiz him about the balancing act between singing and acting and he says, “My role model is S.P. Balasubramaniam. I will follow in his footsteps, as both acting and singing are equally important to me," concludes Varun.