A dark role for Sunny Wayne

It has been four years since the release of Srinath Rajendran’s Second Show, which marked the debut of mega star Mammootty’s son Dulquer Salmaan in M'town. Along with Dulquer, the industry saw the arrival of another actor—Sunny Wayne, who earned a fan following with his maiden character Kurudi. Later, he was found in several supporting roles before taking the assignments as the lead. But, one year back, the actor suddenly took a break from doing solo-hero projects and cut down on his projects.

Now, after a small gap, Sunny is back with another lead role in Ann Maria Kalippilanu, directed by Midhun Manuel Thomas. Sunny says the gap happened just because he became selective. “For the past few months, I haven't been committing to a lot of projects. Though I get many offers and hear so many scripts every day, I couldn’t commit to any of those untill I felt the subjects demanded the actor in me. Also most of the roles that came to me had the same shades.”
 
“I did not find anything different in those projects,” he reveals. The actor, who always maintains a distance from the media, continues, “My focus is to do memorable roles; there's no point in doing so many projects. All we have to concentrate is to give a better output to the projects we commit. If I get a wonderful project, I will definitely go with the role and the film and will be with the crew until its release.”

When it comes to Ann Mariya Kalippilanu, he says, “It is a small-feel good entertaining film, which goes through the life of a small girl Ann Mariya. The story takes a turn when she teams up with my character Poompatta Gireesh, who is a thug.”

About the contrast between the character and his name, the actor says, “Yes, even I find it a unique name. One of the specialties of Midhun is finding unique names for his characters. Even in his previous film, he tried to give such special names like Sarbath Shameer, Shaji Pappan, Lolan and Captain Sachin Cleetus. My character in Aadu also got such a unique name — Satan Xavier. In Ann Maria, Poompata is Gireesh's nickname. We have heard about ponneecha (flies) coming out of your eyes when you are beaten up, but if Gireesh hits you, it is poompatta (butterfly) that comes out of your head!,” he quips.

Sunny reveals that it is one his favourite roles he has essayed. “I was very impressed by the characterisation when I hear the first draft of the movie last September. In fact, I had not tried such a role before. Another attraction is that I am sharing the screen space with a brilliant child actor. I am a person who likes to spend time with kids. Even in the sets of my movies, I mingle with kids; I feel very comfortable being with them. Such moments add freshness to our life,” he says.

On his future projects, Sunny says, “I am still very selective. Some projects are currently under discussion. Villain, to be directed by my friend Praveen Prabharam, who was an associate director in Second Show, is one of my future projects. It is in fact my dream project. Praveen and his co-writer Sujin have been working on the screenplay for the past two years. However, it may not be my very next project.”