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Ode to friendship
Ranjith’s professional and personal lives have been shaped by friends. He learnt theatre, but chose cinema over theatre when a friend motivated him to explore the medium. He decided to concentrate on scripts but the same friend pushed him in
to direction. And then the same friend persuaded him to appear before the camera. “I have lived a completely uncharted life and my friends were the ones who paved the way for much of my accomplishments. I would not have been here but for Alex Kadavil’s passion for Malayalam Cinema. He was the one who instilled cinema into me. And surprisingly, though he knew my interest in writing, he wanted me to become an actor,” reminisces Ranjith.
Alex Kadavil, late theatre director and film producer, was Ranjith’s close friend and classmate at the School of Drama, Thrissur. “I was roaming around in the Malayalam Department of Madras University when I got a letter from Alex, ordering me to meet film director Bharathan for a role. When I met him, I asked Bharathan if I could join his crew. He politely refused and said: ‘If you want to try acting; I can give you a role someday.’ My mind was full of dreams of filmmaking, so acting never happened,” recalls Ranjith. But Ranjith did act, years later. That too, in a film made by a long term associate of Bharathan. “Jayaraj had planned to do the film with Suresh Gopi. However, he was unable to work in the film due to some reasons. I volunteered with suggestions for a new cast. I was thinking of all possible names, not realising that Jayan [Jayaraj] had already made the decision to cast me. I could not wriggle out of it since the shooting was supposed to commence the very next day,” explains Ranjith. That was how Ranjith played Induchoodan, the lead in Jayaraj’s forthcoming film, ‘Gulmohar.’ The confidence to don the role, says Ranjith, came from his training in the School of Drama.
“It is a common situation in theatre. When actors are unavailable, you make do with replacements. So I am familiar with such contingencies. And I had faith in Jayan. I knew that he could easily mould his characters. My previous experience in acting also helped, to an extent,” adds Ranjith. He had last appeared in a significant role in ‘Oru May Masa Pulariyil,’ which was written by him and directed by V.R. Gopinath. “Incidentally, the last thing I wanted to do in theatre was act. I can only remember a couple of instances when I had to be on the stage. I had done the central character in Edward Bond’s ‘The Bundle,’ translated into Malayalam by Vayala Vasudevan Pillai, and directed by Alaknanda Samarth, a theatre director from London. I had also worked as an actor when my one of my seniors Ramesh, directed Henrik Ibsen’s ‘Ghost.’ Then V.K. Prakash had made me act in one his ads,” he recalls. The scenarist-turned-director-turned-actor remembers that it was his teacher Ramunujam who was first one to spot the actor in him. I was so obsessed with theatre then that I thought mainstream cinema was the most uncreative medium that ever happened to mankind. But now I realise how difficult it is to get a break into such a popular medium, and, more importantly, to sustain it,” admits Ranjith, as he prepares himself again to diversify into a different stream of creative work. And this time, it is some poetic verses. And yes, the verses are an ode to a friend.
‘Oru May Masa Pulariyil’ ‘Peruvannapurathe Visheshangal’ ‘Devasuram’ ‘Mayamayuram’ ‘Aran Thampuram’ ‘Narasimham’ ‘Ammakilikoodu’ Calling the shots ‘Ravanaprabhu’ ‘Mizhi Randilum’ ‘Nandanam’ ‘Prajapati’ ‘Chandrolsavam’ ‘Kaiyoppu’ ‘Black’
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Over the years, Ranjith has blossomed as scenarist, director and actor. Now, he plays the lead in Jayaraj’s ‘Gulmohar.’
Multifaceted persona: Ranjith says it was his teachers in the School of Drama who spotted the actor in him.