Interview | Actor Anand Manmadhan: I don’t look back at my struggles with bitterness

Actor Anand Manmadhan talks about his journey in Malayalam cinema

Anand Manmadhan understands that the struggle is far from over for him as an actor. However, he is in a happy space with some of his recent performances garnering appreciation, especially in the movie Ponman and the web series Love Under Construction.

“I have waited long for my work to get noticed. So the recognition I am receiving now is overwhelming,” says Anand.

He debuted eight years ago with the film Y, directed by Sunil Ibrahim. “Box office success eluded most of my earlier films. One movie that was talked about was Jithin Isaac Thomas’s Attention Please, which was screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala. The film was noticed by Karthik Subbaraj and, thanks to him, Netflix picked it up.”

Things started getting better in 2022, especially with Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, in which he played the elder brother of Darshana Rajendran’s character, Jaya. “That film gave me a new lease of life as an artiste. I understood that if you are part of a commercially successful film, you will be noticed, irrespective of the length of the role. Although I had done lengthier roles in some other movies, they weren’t noticed because those films didn’t work in theatres.” Jaya Jaya… was followed by Senna Hegde’s 1744 White Alto, which did not have a good run in theatres. “But I enjoyed that role even though I had no dialogues.” 

He was also one of the four writers of Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, which went on floors the same year. However, the film was released only in 2024.

Among his other releases include films such as Padmini, Roy and the web series Masterpeace and Jai Mahendran.

Meanwhile, 2025 began with a bang for him, especially with Basil Joseph-starrer Ponman. In the critically acclaimed social drama, he played Bruno, the hot-headed, temperamental political activist who ends up helpless after a point. “Jothish chettan (Jothish Shankar, director of Ponman) had shortlisted me after he watched me in Jaya Jaya…., especially my dialogues in the scene right after Darshana’s character beats up Basil’s character. Basil also had referred my name to Jothish chettan.”