Tuesday Sep 25 2007, Trivendrum

Nedumudi Venu: “I love all my characters equally well”

He’s popular among the people of Kerala as ‘Nedumudi’ alone, Nedumudi being his place of birth, his native village in the Alappuzha district of Kerala.Nedumudi Venu, who had been there in cinema as a very integral part of al genres of Malayalam cinema ever since his debut in 1978 in G.Aravindan’s Thambu, has portrayed all shades of characters.Hailed by admirers and critics alike as one of the best actors in Indian cinema itself, people identify him mostly with his characters, almost all of which stand out on account of the realistic, life-like portrayal.There has been a story doing the rounds that there was someone who arrived at Nedumudi Venu’s house in Thiruvananthapuram asking for Chellappan Asari, the carpenter he played to perfection in late Padmarajan’s Thakara.

His performance in umpteen films like Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam, His Highness Abdullah, Bharatham, Vidaparayum Munpe, Rachana, Aham, Marmaram, Thanmathra (the list will go on and on) etc, remains etched in the memory of film lovers for ever.This immensely gifted actor had also acted in three Tamil films, Mogamul, Indian and Anniyan and also in a Hindi film Bhago Bhooth directed by Sai Paranjype for children.In a recent interview held at his house in Thiruvananthapuram, Nedumudi Venu talks about his films, his characters, his experiences etc and shares with us his thoughts about cinema.Excerpts:
Almost about three decades in filmdom, all shades of characters, awards and accolades and above all a place in the hearts of all Malayalees.

How do you feel when you take into account all these?

Happy obviously.All these have been a part of what you would call an achievement for me as an actor.And on the personal level too I have been able to gain many things, like traveling far and wide, giving my children good education, earning lots of friends et al, all because of Cinema.And hence I should naturally be happy, satisfied to a very great extent.But I won’t say that I am satisfied to the fullest extent.That is something which we always strive to attain and perhaps never ever attain.

Still, I am happy, happy to the core.You have done all kinds of characters in innumerable films.And it may be rather difficult to make a choice among them for an actor like you, who obviously does every character with the same dedication.

Still, could you tell us what kind of roles you like doing the most?

That’s a difficult question.Since we actors approach all our characters with the same kind of involvement, we can’t make a distinction between them based on the nature of the characters.

It’s my fortune that I have been able to do all sorts of characters- of all shades and hues.Even characters with negative shades like the ones I had done in films like Dhanam, Chambakkulam Thachchan, Kamaladalam etc have come out well and have been liked by people.And people have even liked characters with shades of humour and they have likes the serious kind of characters too equally well.And as for me, I too have liked all of them equally well.

How would you rate or assess yourself as an actor, tracing your evolution as an actor right from the beginning of your career?

I feel that I am gradually moving towards the realization of the ideals or the concept set for an actor.Each film I do teaches me more about acting and cinema and thus each film helps me grow or evolve a bit as an actor.And so, as long as I go on acting, I would be moving towards the concept of an ideal actor