Won't sign films for friends' sake: Kunchacko Boban

Hits and flops are not new for Kunchacko Boban since he started his career with 1997-release Aniyathipravu. After some of his films failed to enter the blockbuster list, the actor had taken a break 10 years back. In his second innings, he was very selective and that helped him rebuild his stardom by doing versatile roles. But the recent releases of Chackochan were not accepted by his followers. About his selection of projects, the actor says, “We cannot perfectly predict the fate of a film before it reaches screens. No one does films to make it a flop and every one wishes for a hit. It is a fact that some of my recent films did not perform well in the screens and I am looking forward to come up with good films.” He adds “Of course, one flop itself affects the next film of an actor and a technician; there is no point in hiding that fact. But we all can succeed if we work hard for that. We have many examples for that in our industry itself. Even I can point at myself as an example citing my come back in 2009 after a long gap.”

Chackochan points out that the majority of the films in which he has appeared were directed by his friends. “Many of the films have become hits; while some other projects did not do well in the box office. But from now, I am not ready to give nod for all my friends’ films. My priority will be to do good films instead of collaborating with my dear ones.” “I think this will benefit me as well as them,” says the actor who is coming up in the role of a producer with Sidharth Siva-directed Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho (KPAC), which has Kunchacko Boban himself in the lead role. It is in the banner of his home production — Udaya, which was one of the pioneer film studios in Malayalam, that the actor, taking up the new assignment.

“It is after a gap of 30 years that Udaya is funding a film. Though it was my dream to relaunch our production house for past few years, it was now that it became real. In fact, it was not as a producer that I sat for the script discussion of KPAC but as an actor. One day Sidhu came to narrate the story to me in which he has already cast Rudraksh, son of my actor-friend Sudheesh. When I heard the subject, I found it an interesting one and started thinking about funding this project. But I did not tell him about that. Instead of that I asked him to narrate this script to my wife Priya, for an opinion. It was when Priya too found it an interesting subject, I gave the nod to Sidhu to make this film under the banner of Udaya,” he says.

The actor is not reluctant to praise the producer in him. “Normally no producer will take a risk by increasing the shoot date. But as a producer, my focus was on coming up with good output. When I heard the script, my main demand was to shoot the film in real rain, as it would help us show the real beauty of the village. You know what; this project was completed with around eight schedules. It was just because of other commitments of our lead actor,” he laughs. Kunchacko Boban acts as Kochavva. The actor, who started his acting career sharing screen space with Sudheesh, is teaming up with Rudraksh, son of Sudheesh.

“In Aniyathipravu, Sudheesh was cast as my friend and in real life too, he is a good friend of mine. I am really happy to witness the entry of a new member from his family — Rudraksh, to this industry.  He is the one of the lead actors in the film,   who appears as Ayyapadas in the film. Another happiest element is that Sudheesh is also part of the film. He acts as the uncle of Rudraksh,” says the actor. Kunchacko Boban, who is currently acting in editor Mahesh Narayan’s directorial debut, is planning to take a break for two months, once he finishes his scenes in that film. About Udaya’s new films, he says  “Even before Siddhu, I have approached Anwar Rasheed and Lal Jose to direct films for Udaya. They also have shown green signal. But as of now I have not finalized our next. I hope it will happen soon.”