It is like the calm before the tempest as far as Govind Padmasoorya or GP (as his fans call him) is concerned. This very bubbly, vocal person and man of many sentences has been eerily silent the past few months. The popular host and actor with a huge fan following, including a sizeable female population, went out of sight after his last Malayalam hit Pretham. His Facebook wall, normally overflowing with photos of his travels, behind-the-camera antics and numerous college inauguration photos, now only had an occasional selfie or a random photo. There was concern from his followers with many enquiring about his whereabouts. It was just a deceptive lull and GP is back with a bang. He recently featured in a jewellery ad with the beauteous Tamannaah and with that appearance, he has marked his presence.
The reasons for GP’s hiatus are his two big projects — one for the mini-screen and the other for the big screen. Starting with the mini screen first, GP reveals that he will be hosting a stunt reality show on Asianet — Dare the Fear — the likes of which has not been seen in Malayalam television. “After Adi Mone Buzzer (quiz show), I was bombarded with offers for hosting dance and quiz shows and I knew I had to be cautious about selecting my assignments. I had hosted a dance show, a quiz show and a film awards ceremony so I wanted to host something different and waited,” he informs. GP knows well the hazards of being choosy.
“There is a certain risk involved when you reduce your volume and if what you ultimately zero in on does not deliver, then it is like a slap on your face!” Coming back to his TV show, he says, “Now, after one year, I get to host a stunt reality show that is completely action based and very different from what I have done.” The show, GP reveals, is all about facing your fears head on with 12 contestants — all girls (he grins) — with 26 episodes. The shoot happened across prominent locations in the world and had expert international stuntmen on board. The major part of the show has been shot and while GP enjoyed the experience, it was also a learning experience for him; one which he says made him grow on a personal level.
GP explains, “Through this stunt show, I found myself in a very unique place; I was discovering a side of me that I did not know existed. In Dare the Fear, I am the host as well as the judge. I have to anchor as well as decide who gets eliminated, which is a tricky balancing act. I have to be the contestants’ friend, host, motivator, the task master and ultimately their eliminator! What was tough was being the strict task master.” The contestants surprised him with their tenacity, willpower and strength. GP started becoming their fan after seeing some of them boldly facing their biggest fears. He also started appreciating the risky stunts the girls did, which would have put men to shame.
He states, “Some of my stunts have been done by dupes but here, I see these untrained girls doing stunts like jumping over buildings, going under trucks or swimming underwater. It was so enlightening seeing the girls braving all odds and truth be said, I was getting motivated.” The surprise is evident in his voice. The other big news is that he is sharing screen space with actor Jeeva in an upcoming Tamil film where he plays the anti-hero directed by Kaleesh. The film has a very urban premise, which has a sci-fi nature to it with a college background. GP had been getting a lot of Tamil offers but was biding his time till the script, character, banner and co-star fell into place, not necessarily in that order.
“I felt this would be a good way to kickstart my debut in Tamil though I do not have too many scenes. I like that I get to play an antagonist too. The director has clarity about his project and had this one in mind for the last four years. What impressed me was that though the director conceived this film four years back, the technical advancements shown are very up-to-date – so he thought futuristically too!” adds GP. Suhasini is also a part of this film. What floored GP was Jeeva’s completely down-to-earth attitude, his sense of humour and talent for mimicry. Absent were any starry airs and the two had a ball goofing around. “I normally make people laugh but here I was rolling on the floor laughing at his jokes and his narration of behind-the-scenes pranks that he played on Samantha,” he says with a grin. The shoot of the film is over and GP divulges that the first thing he did was to go and shave off the full beard that he had been donning for months for his character. In Malayalam too, GP has been listening to scripts and is taking his time before signing on the dotted line. He says he has now gotten used to the waiting. He wants his character to add value to the script before signing up.
