Actor Guru Somasundram who starred in Malayalam superhero movie 'Minnal Murali' plays the role of the antagonist. In a recent interview the actor opens up about his career choices, his love for movies and how he ended up getting a role in ‘Minnal Murali.’
In an interview with the Indianexpress, Somsundram said that he never wanted to become an actor and that he wanted a steady job with monthly paychecks. “After I finished my diploma in mechanical engineering, I worked in a couple of companies. But, they didn’t work out for me,” he added.
Further he said that to him Shibu’s character was a 40-year-old baby. He noted that his friends are still shocked as to how he ended up becoming a successful actor. “I used to watch a lot of movies. When I saw Baazigar, I got a clean shave and wore glasses like Shah Rukh Khan in that movie for several weeks. But, I never nurtured the dream of becoming an actor, let alone act in movies,” he said.
“Within three months of joining the troupe, I played the lead role in a play called Chandragiri. After that, I decided to pursue acting seriously. That was the biggest turning point in my life. If not for that play, I wouldn’t have taken up acting seriously,” recalled Guru.
He became a member of Tamil theatre group Koothu-P-Pattarai in 2002. In a span of 11 years, he has acted in about 11 major productions. “On an average, each of those plays would have had at least 10 reruns. So, I have stepped on the stage for at least 600 shows,” he noted.
He made his screen debut with the 2010 gangster drama ‘Aaranya Kaandam’. “After watching my performance in ‘Aaranya Kaandam’, people started to ask who is this Guru Somsundram? And even now (after Minnal Murali) people ask the same question, who is this Guru Somsundram?”
He further said, “I kept asking Basil and Tovino how they ended up selecting me for this role? After a point, they both got irritated by that question. I was still in a state of surprise,” he recalled.
The filmmakers, however, had solid reasons for picking Guru. “They explained to me that if they cast a Malayalam actor, people would easily guess who’s the villain. And they didn’t want to reveal the villain during the production. I was in Munnar and Basil came over there and narrated to me the script with all the background score and all. And I immediately decided to do this film,” he added.
The movie ‘Minnal Murali’ which hit the theatres on December 24, has also been released in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil. Minnal Murali is played by Tovino Thomas in the film directed by Basil Joseph and produced by Sophia Paul. The story is about a person who gets supernatural powers after being struck by lightning and becomes the saviour of his village.
