Govind Padmasoorya, a folk town boy from Pattambi garnered limelight in his very debut Adayalangal in which he shouldered a heavy character as the veteran Malayalam writer Nandanar and the movie bagged five Kerala State awards including the ‘Best film’ then.
His screen presence promises versatility where he elegantly carry himself as an actor, show presenter, director and whichever comes his way.
Speaking to News Today, he says, “I am waiting for audience response for my Telugu release Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. With actors like Allu Arjun, Tavu, Jayaram, the scenes kept improvising each day and it was my fortune to work in this film”.
Excerpts from his interview
Q. How did your debut in Telugu happen?
A: Although, Kee (his Tamil debut) didn’t set the mark which was expected, Shiva (his character in Kee) managed to intimidate the audience and that fetched me quality reviews for my performance back in Tamilnadu and Kerala. The movie was then released in YouTube in Telugu and Hindi thus achieving millions of views and the director said he adored the energy I brought in the frames of Kee. This helped me bag a character in Trivikram’s next.
Q. Tell us about Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo.
A: The desirable part of my Telugu debut is that it is a big project with a huge star crew with Allu Arjun in the lead. The crew also include experienced actors like Jayaram, Tabu, Nivetha Bethuraj Pooja Hegde and Sushanth. I play antagonist in this film. In the movie, I am acting as Samuthrakani sir’s son. The character is stylish with international exposure unlike his father (Samuthrakani) who is folkish. My character in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo is different from Kee.
Q. What it took to change your image from a chocolate boy to a terrifying villain?
A: While hosting a dance show, I had to pull off a flirty, bubbly and enthusiastic persona and this surprisingly introduced me to a new set of audience and gained me a stature which Shivakarthigeyan had in Tamilnadu before his movies. Contrasting, in Kee, the sight of Shiva should give fear chills through your spines. So I had to steer my body language under control as Shiva had to intimidate the audience with his eyes where my smile and communication also should be through my eyes and it was carefully done at every instance. Hence, it was quite a challenge.
Q. Tell us about your out of the ordinary versatility.
A: I believe, I can pull of a character who is child-like, romantic in D4 show as a host or a key villain which is in par with the hero in Kee or a not so fearful grey shade villain in this Telugu movie. The versatility I bring in is that the audience won’t be able to expect what I would bring in the screens next time. I leave it to the writers to shape a character. But, I want to experiment what more could I augment to the character.
Q: Tell us about your future projects
A: I am very particular with the brand I associate with. So I am open to big films and performance-oriented characters. I am in talks with projects in all the three languages (Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam). However, I haven’t signed any as I don’t want to take hasty decisions as I am waiting for alluring projects with attractive characters which will create impact among the audience.
(Story by Afrin Fowmitha)