Hardwork pays off, stay focused and be persistent, says Nitin Thomas

Nitin Thomas has grabbed attention with his role as Pakkan Biju in ‘Aaha’. It has not been an easy journey for the actor as it took him over a decade to land a substantial role in a mainstream film. The Kochi-based actor has been working in the film industry for the last 12 years. It was his undying hunger for acting and cinema that has kept him going for so long. It was in 2006 during his college days that he first started acting as part of his seniors’ project.

After his graduation, Nitin worked as a graphic designer for few magazines and later as a freelance worker. During this time, he constantly attended auditions for movies and was on the look for opportunities. In 2013, while working for Infinity Times‌ magazine, he won the Best Actor award in a contest conducted by Manorama Online as part of the 100th anniversary of Indian Cinema. Popular director Lal Jose headed the contest’s jury.

Later, he joined as an UI designer at a mobile application development company. Parallely, he was also honing his acting skills by doing short films with his friends, some of which gained attention of film critics. In the same year, Nitin made his Tamil debut by bagged an opportunity to play the role of a police officer in ‘Nishabdam’.

After quitting his job, Nitin completed a theater course at Koothu P Pattarai in Chennai. It was his stint there that helped him to learn and improve his acting skills. While in Chennai, he also worked as an online promoter for the Tamil film production company, 24 AM Studios. He continued looking for roles by regularly auditioned for Tamil films. As per Nitin, he has attended over 100 auditions in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Nitin’s first film, Little Master, was released in 2012 while his Tamil debut Nishabdam came out in 2017. Event though both these films failed to get attention, Nitin persisted with his efforts. His acting career has finally been given a new lease of life with ‘Aaha’, directed by Bibin Paul Samuel.

Nitin’s upcoming films include the Dulquer Salmaan-starrer ‘Salute’, newcomer director Shah Jahan’s ‘Jameelante Poovan Kozhi’, and Karthik Raja’s maiden Tamil film, ‘Doodi’.

Besides acting, Nitin is also interested in other aspects of filmmaking. He has already scripted, directed and starred in a couple of short films. He is currently working on a few scripts, which include shorts, feature films as well as web series.