Back in the game

It’s the era of rising star kids in the film industry. In Mollywood, the current crop of star kids has already made a mark on the industry through stupendous performances. The latest to the list is Kalidas Jayaram, who made a re-entry into the industry through Poomaram. Kalidas’s mettle as a child artiste was already proven in movies like Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal and Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum. He has even won the National Award and Kerala State Award for the Best Child Artiste for his remarkable performance as Vasudev in Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum.

His re-entry into movies was a long-discussed one. Finally, it happened through the Tamil movie Meen Kuzhambum Mann Pannaiyum in 2016. Then the wait was for his Malayalam movie. Poomaram was delayed due to several reasons and the audience had to wait even longer. There were even trolls made on this and he happily shared many through his social media account. But the wait was worth it. The movie received a good response as the audience took a trip down memory lane to their college days.

“All thanks to Abrid Shine for giving me a big entry. The producer needs to be complimented for taking up such a good movie and getting a wide release. I was happy that many liked the movie. Of course, there will be always two opinions, take it in a positive way,” he says.

Kalidas affirms that he enjoyed every troll related to the release date of the movie. However, now it has taken a twist. “People are asking when the DVD will be released. At times, I wonder why they didn’t watch it in the theatres. I believe the movie will receive a great following in the future.”

Kalidas is now onto bigger and better things. As per news reports, he’s signed his next film with Midhun Manuel Thomas. The movie is titled Argentina Fans Kaattoorkadavu. The name itself suggests the movie will be based on football but the actor says more details will be revealed when the time comes. Aishwarya Lekshmi has been roped in to play the lady lead.

“I can’t reveal much about the movie now. All I can assure you is that this will be a movie that will touch every football fan. It’s a touching story and the audience will easily connect with it,” he says about the new project. The movie based on a short story by Asokan Charuvil will be scripted by the director and John Manthrickal. Midhun has brought on board a strong technical team for Argentina Fans Kaattoorkadavu. The cinematography will be handled by Renadive. Gopi Sunder will be in charge of music and Lijo Paul will take care of the editing. The movie will be produced by Ashiq Usman.

But before Argentina Fans Kaattoorkadavu, Kalidas will join the sets of Jeethu Joseph’s yet-to-be-titled movie. Jeethu, who is riding a high after the success of Pranav’s debut movie Aadhi, has roped in another star kid for his film, which promises to be an entertainer.

Kalidas had been on a small break after Poomaram got released and was in the process of listening to many scripts. “I wanted to do an out and out entertainer after Poomaram. That’s when Jeethu chettan narrated the story. The movie is a pakka entertainer and I decided to go for it,” he says, adding, “I’m a great fan of Memories and Drishyam. These two movies are in my personal DVD collection. I’ve always wanted to work with him.”

Kalidas is also a star kid with a social conscience. After all, he was busy helping out at various relief camps during the floods. He extended a helping hand at the camps at Chengannur, Aluva, Paravur, Vypin, etc. even as actor Jayaram and family were trapped at Kuthiran during the floods.

“They were coming by road from Chennai. They reached Kuthiran just as the landslide occurred. They were trapped in the car for 18 hours and later moved to a police camp where they stayed for three days. I was relieved to know they were safe,” he says. Kalidas and his dad Jayaram had also visited two relief camps to distribute clothes for Onam.

When asked if he has a dream role, he says no. “Every new subject excites me. Whenever I hear a new story, I feel this is one of the characters I wish to portray. I’m really happy with all the projects coming my way,” he signs off.