Nivin Pauly and Dulquer Salmaan’s new found love for real life characters
Realism is something that is synonymous to Malayalam movies. Malayalam film industry is renowned for its movies that explored the rooted-to-realism themes and ones that are easily relatable to the commoners. Authentic portrayal of human emotions and their internal conflicts has always been the hallmark of Malayalam movies.
Even today, when other industries are investing hundreds of crores on spectacle heavy masala films, Malayalam movies focus on the quality of the subject. Naturally, the actors here are also open to doing realistic films through which they can showcase their acting skills. Dulquer Salmaan and Nivin Pauly, the poster boys of new-gen Malayalam movies, are a perfect example for this. Inspite of being such big commercial stars, they have never shied away from doing experimental stuff.
Both these actors currently have multiple projects in their bags. A casual glance at their list of upcoming movies, and one can notice a very interesting thing – their love for real life characters. While Dulquer has commited to play the notorious criminal Sukumara Kurup and legendary actor Gemini Ganesan, Nivin Pauly will be seen as the rebellious highwayman Kayamkulam Kochunni and freedom fighter/thespian NN Pillai in his upcoming movies.
Dulquer Salmaan is making his Telugu debut with Nag Ashwin’s Mahanati, a biopic on late actress Savitri. Dulquer is playing Gemini Ganesan, the legendary actor who was briefly married to Savitri. It is a highly challenging role and will be interesting to see how Dulquer enacts it. He has maintained that he will not be mimicking Gemini Ganesan but play the role in his own style. To look the part, Dulquer had even shaved his moustache to suit the 70s style.
In his upcoming movie with Srinath Rajendran, Dulquer plays the notorious criminal Sukumara Kurup.
He is accused of murdering Chacko, who bore a resemblance with him, to fake his own death and claim an insurance amount of Rs 8 lakhs. Sukumara Kurup is supposed to have fled abroad after the incident and has been absconding for over thirty years now. The Chacko murder case is one of the long standing cases in Kerala’s judicial history. Though there has been movies based on this incident before, Dulquer Salmaan’s portrayal of Sukumara Kurup is something exciting to watch out for.
On the other hand, Nivin Pauly also has two such films in the pipeline. He has already started shooting for Kayamkulam Kochunni, directed by Rosshan Andrewss. Nivin plays the legendary Kochunni, who is popularly known as India’s Robinhood. The actor is taking extra efforts for this movie as he is training in Kalaripayattu and horse riding. It is one of Nivin’s biggest projects till date and the actor is putting his heart and soul for it.
Recently, on Nivin’s birthday, it was announced that the actor would be teaming up with Rajeev Ravi for a biopic on NN Pillai, freedom figther and a legendary drama artist. The movie will showcase his life as a young soldier alongside Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose in the Indian National Army (INA) and his days as a drama artist. NN Pillai has had a very eventful life and Nivin has got a herculean task playing him.
So in the next few months, the Malayali audience will get to see Nivin Pauly and Dulquer Salmaan rock the screens as Kayamkulam Kochunni, Gemini Ganesan, NN Pillai and Sukumara Kurup. Exciting times ahead!
