Nandu: The 'O' in 'Actor' stands for observation

If you're someone who keenly follows the changing trends in Malayalam cinema, it wouldn't be a strenuous exercise to notice the lack of powerful characters for senior actors today. On the contrary,  filmmakers complain about the dearth of efficient senior actors. "We don't have versatile actors like Thilakan, Murali, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy Sreekumar, or Oduvil Unnikrishnan today" is a shared sentiment among many. But then there are actors like Nandu, who strive hard to fill the void left by his legendary predecessors. A veteran with almost 40 years of acting experience, Nandu got his due only in the last decade or so. On the back of some consistently remarkable performances, today he has become an indispensable part of the industry. 

In his latest release Thrishanku, Nandu plays a hilarious ammavan who is certain to ring a bell or two with the typical 'Whatsapp Uncles' who proudly flaunt their ignorance. As his performance is busy bringing houses down, we catch up with the veteran to discuss the film and his career

Excerpts

Though released amidst less hype, Thrishanku is gradually picking up courtesy the word of mouth...

It has been extremely positive, but I'm also disappointed that the film hasn't reached many due to the lack of promotions. I'm someone who travels a lot and I hardly saw any posters of the film. There's only so much that online publicity can do. For a film to reach the general audience, ground-level publicity is crucial. I'm aware of 2018 holding all the major centres, but I still firmly believe Thrishanku would have fared better if it had an extra push from the marketing side. It's unfortunate that a film that had the potential to become a huge success is forced to settle for so little. Now let's wait for people to rave about it post the OTT release.

Two ammavans caught between two eloping couples. It's a quirky concept reminiscent of yesteryear Priyadarshan films. As someone who has worked with him a lot, did you catch the similarities?

When director Achyuth (Vinayak) first gave me a brief on the story and my character, I could instantly sense the potential in it. The humour is organic and situational unlike in Priyan chettan's films where the brand of humour is mostly slapstick. But since Achyuth has also worked as Priyan chettan's assistant, there might have been some influences.

Chandran Maaman is a tough, no-nonsense character, but his actions had to elicit laughter. Was it a challenge?

I understood the gist of the character from the first narration itself and tuned my performance to ensure he is unintentionally funny. He had to be funny even when he was not saying dialogues. Like the 'Bhutan lottery' joke. Here's a man who genuinely believes Bhutan is a lottery and not a country. When Suresh Krishna's character mocks me for it, I see the theatre erupting in laughter. I didn't do anything in particular, it's the way the character is conceived. I just had to play along.

How important is the rapport between co-stars in a film like this?

It makes a sea of difference. You can't make a film like this work if the actors are not on the same page. Suresh and I go a long way back as we've acted together in a lot of films. Here, we play brothers with contrasting characters and the underlying banter between them worked out well because we could match each other's energy. Likewise, I'm very close to Harisree Ashokan and Benny (P Nayarambalam) and so their kids are like mine. Both Arjun and Anna are fine actors who know their strengths. I remember calling and congratulating Anna after being impressed by her performance in her first film (Kumbalangi Nights). 

To play the character of a traditionalist ammavan, did you have any references among your peers?

I didn't have to, because we are used to seeing many such people around us. I'm not an actor who does homework; perhaps it's because I haven't gotten roles that demanded me to. The only time I did some research was for playing a real-life Tamil politician, but unfortunately, that project didn't materialise. I generally don't ascribe to the idea of investing months of effort in one character. I'm not saying that's a bad technique. Robert De Niro worked as a cab driver for weeks to prepare for his role in Taxi Driver. Does that mean he's a bad actor? No, it's just that his process differs from mine.

So what's your process like?

The 'O' in 'Actor' stands for observation. That's what I do. I observe people a lot and try to incorporate some of their catchy traits in my performances. But I cannot emphatically claim that I'm a perfect actor. There's always scope to learn and improve. Recently, Tovino had gone for acting training in Pondicherry as part of his preparations for Ajayante Randam Moshanam. Apparently, Aamir Khan was also there to take classes. These are proven performers who are still ready to sweat it out to better their craft. Wish I could also take a break to undergo such training.

You've come a long way from your Aalelo Pulelo days. Was Spirit the game-changer?

To a large extent, yes, Spirit changed my life. But it was Adoor sir's Naalu Pennungal that paved the way to Spirit. Ranjith ettan called me after seeing my performance in it. Working with these two filmmakers helped me immensely. People tend to believe if someone expresses their emotions loudly, like breaking down uncontrollably, then that's great acting. But no, it's a general misconception. One of the hardest things to do is to stand still in a scene. Adoor sir would call 'cut' every time my hands moved while performing. He would ask me to keep my hands loose below the waist and not allow me to move them at all. It might sound easy, but that's the toughest thing to do during a shot. 

Similarly, Ranjith ettan taught me how to use my eyes. There's a scene in Spirit when my character, Maniyan, is desperately looking for water to mix his drink and ends up in the toilet. There the camera shifts between the closet and his face. There's a brief pause, and Ranjith ettan wanted me to hold my eyes steady. He kept telling me that my eyes shouldn't move an inch because it would give away what the character would do next. He wanted the audience to wonder about the extent this person would go to have a drink. For an actor, these are invaluable lessons. Today, when I watch someone perform, I first notice the movement of their hands and eyes. Looking back, I don't consider what I did during my early days as acting. 

What else do you keep an eye on while performing?

I generally notice what actors do when the camera is not on them. It infuriates me when I see them looking somewhere else or keeping their eyes down when the other person is delivering his lines. Even when the focus is not on you, you've to keep reacting. You've to be consistent throughout the shot no matter where the camera is. That's the hallmark of a good actor.

After being in the industry for so long, can you now afford to be selective?

At present, I'm not being choosy due to some financial constraints. I'm doing whatever comes my way, but if truth be told, I'm tired of doing cop roles. Most of my films last year (Kaapa, Kaduva, Paappan, Teacher) had me donning the khaki. I wish someone would throw a challenging role at me—something that pushes me to experiment with my looks and dialect.

What's coming up next?

I'm currently shooting for Tovino's Anveshippin Kandethum. Then there's Shaji Kailas' Hunt and Anoop Menon's Oh Cinderella. There's also Ithiri Neram, another travel film like Thrishanku that I'm looking forward to. It has me, Roshan Mathew, Zarin Shihab and Anand Manmadhan as the leads.

What about Empuraan? Can we expect you and your Landmaster car to make a comeback?

Till the most recent discussions, my character Peethambaran is there in Empuraan. I don't know if there'll be any last-minute changes (laughs). I'm also not sure about the car. I sold it to Raju (Prithviraj) during the shoot of Lucifer itself. Now it's up to him to decide!