‘Purusha Pretham’ is now a benchmark in my career, says Malayalam actor Prasanth Alexander

malayalam actor prasanth alexander is getting rave reviews for his role as sub-inspector super sebastian in purusha pretham, a police procedural comedy directed by krishand

Krishand’s police procedural comedy, Purusha Pretham, is getting immense love from the audience, with the cast, especially the protagonist Prasanth Alexander, garnering lavish praise. Prasanth excels as sub-inspector Sebastian, a.k.a. Super Sebastian, the policeman who boasts of his heroism and throws his weight around, even when he has many personal issues to handle.

It is hard-earned recognition for the actor who has been in the industry for over 20 years. Prasanth is also a co-producer of the film, a first for him. In a chat with MetroPlus over phone from Thiruvalla, his hometown, Prasanth speaks about the breakout role and his journey. Excerpts:

There is relief and happiness over getting recognised after so many years. People are messaging me about even those roles that were not significant. I did not realise that I have so many well-wishers who hoped that I would get a path-breaking role some day. At the same time, I am nervous because Purusha Pretham is now a benchmark in my career and I am worried about what I should do next. There is no one to guide me and my future in the industry depends on the decisions I take.

However, I am savouring the moment and it is the excitement of my family that thrills me the most. Now when I mention that I play the central character in the film, my wife corrects me saying, ‘you are the hero’.

I was acting in a web series directed by our common friend and he happened to be there on the location. Once a rapport was struck, he asked if I could do this small role of a police officer in his debut movie, Vrithakrithiyilulla Chathuram (2019). I had no second thoughts about it. A few days into the shoot, he told me the story of Purusha Pretham and this character, Sebastian, who is an extended version of the police officer in Vrithakrithi… Thus the role has been with me since 2018.

Krishand gives you the perfect space and ambience to perform. Being in his film is a learning experience as well. People talk about him being an intellectual filmmaker and assume that it might be difficult for us to follow his thought process. But, the fact is he communicates exactly what he wants in each scene and clears our doubts. It is just that his understanding of cinema is different from ours.

Of course, having worked in commercial cinema for many years many of us had doubts about certain sequences. But eventually we trusted Krishand the filmmaker and there was no confusion.