A life of up and downs
Basking in the glory of his much-appreciated role in Kasaba and just-released Dooram, Maqbool says his comeback belied even his own expectations.
Getting the perfect break in the film industry was not a cakewalk for Maqbool Salman. Despite having grown up in a family of stars — an uncle Mammootty, dad Ibrahim Kutty and an upcoming super star cousin of Dulquer Salmaan — Maqbool had to take one step at a time and did a slow waltz into the industry. Today, with the success of his role as Jagan in Kasaba and the release of his latest movie Dooram, Maqbool is over the moon.
Elaborating on his character in Dooram, Maqbool says, “The name of my character is Dennis Issac. There are four heroes in the movie — Shine, Bhagath Nirmal and myself, who are very close friends.”
“The movie talks about their friendship. The first half is a campus movie and the second half shows their matured stage.”
Maqbool was approached by script writer Danil and production controller Sanjay to play this role. “It was their confidence that prompted me to do this role. I play a serious role in this movie — that of a reserved guy who talks less, nothing like what I am in real life. I am not at all reserved,” he laughs.
Twin sisters Aima and Aina play the female leads in the movie. Aima was last seen in Vineeth Sreenivasan's Jacobinte Swarga Raajyam.
Maqbool’s journey so far has had its share of ups and downs. “Asuravithu and Matinee changed my life. Although my debut was through Asuravithu, Matinee gave me a break. But there were more downs than ups. After that, I waited for a relaunch till Kasaba happened. I could share screen space with moothappa (Mammootty) and my comeback became much larger than what I had wished for. I got positive reviews for playing Jagan.”
Speaking about Dooram, Maqbool says, “Good responses started coming in for the fresh theme by the third day of release.”
As an actor, Maqbool wants to do all kinds of movies. “Before Matinee and Kasaba, the movies I was part of did not yield the expected results. I don't know if it was due to my selection or because the outcome was not as planned. My plan is to do movies which public can enjoy in theatre.”