Arackkal Abu is back

Saiju Kurup has become an indispensable name in Mollywood with every third film casting him in a memorable character. Things did not come easy for the actor who bided his time before finally reaching a point where he can afford to be selective about his roles. A huge part of his success is his range of roles — blubbering idiot, menacing villain, a doctor, the close friend, the coward, the idiosyncratic individual, a cop — he has done them all. Along with these roles, Saiju has taken care to adapt himself physically to get into the skin of his characters.   

Perhaps a role that has almost become his calling card is the character of Arackkal Abu in Aadu Oru Bheegara Jeeviyanu. The much-loved butcher became a talking point among the audience and Saiju, in a first for him, is all set to take his meat cleaver in his hands yet again for the sequel Aadu 2.

For all those who think reprising a role yet again would be a breeze — almost like slipping into a familiar pair of old boots — Saiju says it is not. I had reported to the Aadu 2 sets a day before, from the shooting of another film. I was totally flummoxed. For one, I was repeating a character for the first time and secondly, a lot of expectations rested on the film and its characters. So the next morning the makeup man came and started transforming me into Arackkal Abu. Makeup done, I walked out and some youngsters who had come to watch the shooting gave me the thumbs up and said polikyannam (a colloquial term to perform well). My tension levels were upping and I was getting more confused about portraying Arackkal Abu. My character in the first part was someone who acted very rough and tough in the beginning only to turn out to be a coward. So I was confused about which body language I should adapt — the roughneck or the coward!” 

Saiju’s visible confusion was noted and it was director Midhun Manuel Thomas and co-stars Jayasurya, Harikrishnan, Dharmajan and Vijay Babu who came to his rescue with their advice and suggestions. “Between the five of them, I found my mooring and the rest was fun. I am the kind, who, without ego, will ask for advice if it will better my character. ” 

The climatic conditions were not favourable during shooting, rain playing spoilsport on many occasions. The filming is now complete and he has finished dubbing. Saiju is very optimistic about the film and says that since the audience already know the characters and their foolhardiness, there is no need to establish a genre or the characters. 

Saiju will be playing a 25-year-old in the upcoming Prithviraj-starrer Vimanam and also in his kitty are films like Theevandi, Kalyanam and B Tech.