Part 59: Quit. Give up, Kenny. Try something else.

Time was flying past.

Two years. Two offers. One film. No release.

Then one of my friend said, “Sridhar Sir is doing a movie and he is searching for a hero. Just go and see once”

So I went to AVM Studio and met Chitralaya Gopu.

He said “Tomorrow is the screen test.Come tomorrow.”

I remember, while taking a screen test, the cameraman said, “He has some deficiency. I don’t know what but .He may not suit.” But Sridhar sir was in Hurry and said, “Let it be. No problem. It’s okay”.

The only condition was that I should not have done any films before. I seriously thought that there was no way En Kaathal Kanmani would ever see the light of day and so I told Shridhar that his film would indeed be my first release.

He insisted me, “Tomorrow morning is the shooting. Come in the morning. Don’t miss”

How could I miss it?

That was the opening for me for with the movie ‘Thanthuvutten Ennai’.

Working with him was a great learning experience. He has a great camera attention and lighting sense. He has all those qualities naturally. Shridhar was a great believer in frames. So his camera was never still in that there were never any block shots. His camera constantly moved which meant that I had to be always aware of continuity and positions. Where was my left hand? What was in my right? Where was my co-star standing? He said, “You will emerge as a tremendous actor”.

Everyone felt that it was something like “Brahmashri in the mouth of Vashista”. Then only I realized there is saying so.

All that working experience with him really helped me in the later years. Till date, no one has ever pulled me up on continuity lags. Period.

As luck would have had it, just as Shridhar’s film neared completion, the bankers decided to release their film. Shridhar was shocked and angry at what he thought was my deliberate deception. Worse still, when his movie released, it was a complete washout and flopped big time.

In that movie the one and only one success I had got was fulfilling the faith that the director showed on me as an actor. Working with him was not so easy. One has to act well with right dialogues at the right scenes, he mentioned about it in a press meet.

Then I did a film “Kaaval Geetam” with S.P.Muthurn. Another veteran film-maker.

Another flop. Cinematographer P.C.Sreeram (Whom I had hoped to at least assist when my acting career was going nowhere and who couldn’t take me on because he had too many assistants already) called me for Meera after seeing me in the television ads, As the hero! He made his first directorial debut with me in the lead. I thought I would be a sensation after the film, but it did not quite work out like that. And the movie was disaster!

But I think that was the movie that made my face familiar in people’s hearts. But both films did not do well. I was confused and desperate. At the same time I did not have the heart to leave cinema. I was foxed. Mean while because of Meera, I got offers in from other languages too but I was firm about my decision .If it is in Malyalam I would work with big company or good director’s movie. That’s why I was able to work with directors like Shaaji Kailash, Joshi. I have got good role in Mommokha and Suresh Gopi’s films. I had decided that if it’s Telugu then any movies are okay except violent movies and mythological films.

So in this way money in Telugu, good roles in Malayalam and search for good roles in Tamil. This was my circumstance those days.

If you know what went wrong, you fix it. If you know you need to improve on something, you can. Every problem has a solution. In my case what befuddled all of us was the fact that none of us knew what went wrong.

Apart from my first film, I made films with the best banners. Best directors. Everyone acknowledged I was a talented actor. They said I had charisma. That I was a good dancer. That I had great screen presence. Most of the stories were pretty okay tool. I have always been lucky with music in my films. I was called the southern Shammi kapoor.

So why did my films fail? I had no clue.

In the meantime the sniggers kept increasing.

Quit. Give up, Kenny. Try something else.

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