Award-winning actor Indrans talks about the Malayalam movie, ‘Jackson Bazaar Youth’, and how ‘Home’ changed the trajectory of his career

Indrans on the kind of cop he is in the Malayalam movie Jackson Bazaar Youth and his changing profile as an actor

K Surendran, better known as Indrans, in real life is unlike most characters he has portrayed on screen. He is a quiet presence that does not demand constant attention, but he does have the ability to slip a self-deprecating joke into the conversation. “I get different kinds of roles today not because the perception of what an actor should be like has changed, but because I am older, and have gained weight including around my neck. It does not look as long and exaggerated as it used to back in the day!” he deadpans. The actor, in Kochi, to promote his new movie Jackson Bazaar Youth, agrees that Oliver Twist of Home (2021) altered the trajectory of his career. “ Home gave me a good break. It is after that film I started getting solid characters in mainstream cinema.” 

Indrans does not reveal much about his character in Jackson Bazaar Youth, just enough to make you curious. “He is a cop with many shades to his character. This is a serious policeman who is slightly akrami (aggressive) too! The story is about a group of people who live in a colony and what happens when they cross paths with my character.” The film, directed by Shamal Sulieman, has Jaffer Idukki, Lukman Avaran, Chinnu Chandini and Mathew Thomas in prominent roles in the film that releases on May 19.

In a career spanning more than 40 years, the 67-year-old has carved a space for himself in Malayalam films. His journey in films started as a comedian which has now evolved into a gamut of roles. That today he is in a position to ask to see the script before committing to a film is proof of how far he has come. He does not see it that way. “I am still here because I still crave this space, and fortunately nobody has pushed me out of the track that I have been on.” Indrans was awarded the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Actor (2018) for Aalorukkam.

Most Indian film industries, Malayalam included, are largely appearance-driven, he agrees. “But Sreeniettan (actor/writer Sreenivasan) in Malayalam has been able to create a dent in that perception and has been able to change expectations of what a ‘hero’ should look like. The premise is of the script being the hero.” 

Interestingly the lockdown and Home, by extension, have changed his fortune as an actor in terms of roles and remuneration. When I tell him that he is probably the only actor who would confess to being paid well he chuckles. “Something gave. Life changed.  That period [the lockdown] gave me time to read, to be with myself, act in a lot of short films and of course, Home,” he adds. That film was a revelation to makers who realised that Indrans could do varied characters beyond humour-driven ones.       

The change has come with responsibility. If in the past he just landed up on set, asked what the character was and concerned himself with the make-up and look, today it is different. “If it is a prominent role I ask to read the script. If I don’t I will get into trouble with my friends and my son. He chides me, questions my choices, ‘shouldn’t you be careful about the films?’” 

The actor who made his career as a comedian is partial to comedy, “It demands effort physically too, but one can enjoy doing it!” When it comes to the more serious roles he has been taking up he says he is a director’s actor.