Malayalam film ‘Ennivar’ has composer Sooraj S Kurup acing it as an actor

composer sooraj s kurup has aced as an actor in the malayalam film ennivar directed by sidhartha siva

Sidhartha Siva’s Ennivar (The Following Persons) has dropped on OTT to rave reviews, with the performances getting special mention. Shining alongside some seasoned actors in this political thriller is composer and actor Sooraj S Kurup.

The film, set against the murky side of campus politics, follows four members of a political party who are forced to take refuge in a house after they are charged with murder. Unknown to them is the fact that they are mere pawns at the hands of bigwigs in the political party.

Sooraj’s character Kunjippan, one among the four, is a hardcore party loyalist. He gets sucked into the plot after he was chosen to avenge an attack on a college student from his party, Ananthu (an impressive Sarjano Khalid), who is also on the run with him.

Sooraj mentions that even though he has acted in plays while in college acting took a backseat once music became his forte. However, opportunities came in and he debuted as an actor in Sidhartha Siva’s Sakhavu (2017). After that, he did small roles in Luca (2019), Kungfu Master (2020) and Mahaveeryar (2022).

“This is the first full-length role of my career. Although I have been getting offers, none of them was exciting. I was waiting for a solid role and that’s when Ennivar happened. Sidharthettan [director Sidhartha Siva] was confident that I could pull it off,” says Sooraj.

The film travelled the film festival circuit, including the International Film Festival of Kerala 2021, where it got tremendous appreciation. It also won two Kerala State Film Awards — for the best director and best character actor for Sudheesh, who plays Krishnadas, whom Kunjippan considers his mentor. “Sidharthettan had pitched the film to several OTT platforms but to no avail. He is someone who shies away from promoting his work. But he knew that Ennivar is special for all of us associated with it and he wanted to take it to the audience,” says Sooraj.

Through conversations between the actors, the director unravels the journey of each character, without going for any flashbacks. “All of us would sit together and discuss the dialogues. Once a consensus was reached, we would rehearse a couple of times and then go for the take. Sidharthettan gave us the freedom to express ourselves, be it in voice modulation or the activities we did. In spite of having no female actors, their presence is felt through the conversations. Kunjippan and Ananthu reveal their vulnerabilities when they talk about the women in their lives,” he explains. Having seasoned actors such as Sudheesh, Jeo Baby and Binu Pappu in the cast made the experience memorable for Sooraj.