Back with a bang: Salim Kumar

Even amidst the ‘change’ issues, what prompts the Malayali film buffs to flock in to cine halls to watch Nadhir Shah’s Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan is the comeback of award-winning actor Salim Kumar in his trademark comic avatar. As promised by the director, Malayalis have got back that old Salim with the role of Naxalite Chandran. So, what was the reason behind the gap in comedy roles? “No one called me for such roles,” says the actor followed by his typical laugh. Salim says that he did not get offers to essay comedy roles after bagging the National Award for the Best Actor. “May be people thought that I won’t do humour roles after bagging the best actor award. To be frank, I haven’t got any call to essay such roles till KRR,” says the actor, who admits that the three-year break in his career was a planned one.

“I was not active in films for three years owing to some treatments I was undergoing. During that period, I faced camera in just two or three films just because of friendship with those directors and them being adamant that I should act. But all those films had just one or two scenes with me,” he says, adding that he had to say no to calls from his close friends. “I was an integral part of Shafi’s films right from his debut movie, but when he cast me in his Two Countries, I could not say yes to him due to health issues. More than that, I did not want them to struggle just because of me. I could calculate the loss the producer might face if the shoot got delayed. What would they do if I could not continue with them after acting half of my portions? Producer Rejaputra Ranjith was also my friend. So I told them to go ahead without me,” says Salim.

The actor reveals that it was after denying the offer from Nadhir Shah’s debut movie Amar Akbar Anthony that he agreed to act in his second directorial venture. “He was my close friend from the past few years. In fact, I was the first hero in his very first directorial (spoof film) Unakkachemmeen. It was actually written for another actor, but Nadhir Shah called me and said that he had backed out from the project and then I agreed to act. So when he decided to do AAA, he had written a role for me. But I was not well then. When KRR came, I felt that I could do this role. Before this movie, I had acted in Mammookka’s Thoppil Joppan. That too has got good comments,” he says standing on the lobby of Chitranjali Studio, Kakkanad, where the post production of his latest directorial venture Karutha Joothan (Black Jew) is happening.

Salim points out that the hiatus had made him a writer. “It was during this period that I started penning screenplays. The scripts of my films Compartment and Karutha Joothan were written during this period. Apart from these, I was active in agriculture and some social activities. So I did not feel such a gap. Interestingly, audience also did not notice that I was not acting. For that I should thank media and trollers on Facebook. I still wonder how they find all these stills and scenes of mine for these trolls. They are really creative,” says the actor. The actor, who holds the record of bagging all four awards instituted by the state government for an actor - best actor, second best actor, best comedian and best actor (TV award), says that reading should be an important habit of an actor.

“Mimicry artistes and comedians are supposed to incorporate incidents around him in his acts in a satirical way. For that, he should be well aware about the things happening around him. I am glad to say that I used to read a lot right from a young age. In fact, I had started reading to face the intellectual comments from my close friends who were communist activists. When they used to attend study classes organised by their party, as I was a Congress supporter, I stayed back at home. It was to face them in debates that I started reading. To be frank, that helped me a lot in my career. But many actors of current generation have no reading habit. I feel that they should start reading,” he says, adding, “In the meantime, there are many avid readers in our industry. But they are not those you can easily guess.”