Mollywood's new funny man

Vishnu Govindan now has one more in the list of his pet names - Jomey, his much-hailed character in Oru Mexican Aparatha. Not only has it become an unforgettable character, Vishnu is one of those lucky few to have his career catapulted with a single role. With a whole bunch of most-awaited movies of this year, some of which absolute dream projects for a newbie in the industry, he has his hands full.  

"Yes, a number of the movies I am part of is releasing in the coming months," says Vishnu and begins to take the count. "I have five upcoming movies. Lava Kusha is releasing first. Villain will hit the screen on October 27, Goodalochana on November first week followed by  Punyalan Agarbattis 2 on November second week and finally Vimaanam, the release date of which is yet to be decided. Adding to this is my own project History of Joy."

For Vishnu, it all started after Jomey happened."All these offers started coming in after Oru Mexican Aparatha. In fact, Villain is the first project I got after that. It is an investigative thriller and my character is quite important in the story. I do have a few scenes with Lalettan; the combination sequence was shot for 2-3 days and I must say it was quite an experience. I was obviously tense and worried," he laughs. 

Speaking about his role in Punyalan Agarbathis 2, Vishnu says, "Ranjith Shankar sir called me after watching my performance in Oru Mexican Aparatha. This one yet again is a humorous character and an important one as well. It was wonderful to work with Jayasurya, he was very helpful." He adds, “Goodalochana penned by Dhyan Sreenivasan was another fun ride. Vimaanam is a huge project in which I play a character that is quite important to the region where it is set in. It was an entirely different experience to be part of a period movie." 

"Most of the characters I play in these movies are humorous. However, there is one project where I will be playing a negative role. The movie is named Premasoothram directed by Jiju Ashokan, whose other project was Urumbukal Urangarilla starring Vinay Forrt and Chemban Vinod. The shooting of Premasoothram is currently going on."  

Does it scare him that the industry might typecast him in humorous roles? "I have no such rule where I have decided only to stick to a certain kind of character. I am accepting all the characters I am offered to the best of my abilities. But then again, I don't think getting the 'humour man' tag is negative at all. I would consider such a tag as an appreciation for my work."

Vishnu is also quite thrilled about his own project – a feature film – that is gearing up for release. "History of Joy stars Vishnu Vinay, son of director Vinayan. I had completed it while Oru Mexican Aparatha's shoot was going on." Apart from directing the film, Vishnu has penned the script along with his friend Anoop from CUSAT.