Kunchacko Boban is scaling heights that no one in the Malayalam movie industry expected him to even attempt leave alone conquer. Long regarded as a romantic hero jailed in his own image, the actor popularly known as Chackochan, has come out of the shackles with a wide variety of hard-hitting roles in recent times including Nayattu, Enna than case kodu and Bougainvillea. His latest flick, Officer on Duty, has opened to great reviews and critics have stated that his role as a demoted police inspector is his best ever. Udaya Studios, the legendary production house, once run by his grandfather and father, is being revived as well.
Excerpts from an interview:
Your movie career may be divided into three phases. The first phase saw you emerge as a young, romantic star and then came a lull that saw you leaving movies to get into the real estate business. Then you swung back into the movies wanting to reestablish yourself and now you are in the third phase of your career continuously reinventing and challenging yourself in roles that were once seen as ill-fitting for your acting range.
I agree with your assessment that my career has seen three distinct phases. When I came on to the scene in 1997 through Aniyathipravu, I saw instant stardom. I was a bit uninterested at that time and felt thrust into stardom. It was great to be popular and I loved soaking in that success but I wasn’t sure of myself. Sometimes, I used to wonder whether I deserved all of these accolades that came my way.
Later, I left the field to do business but soon realized that’s my calling. My grandfather, father and our production house Udaya Pictures had done great work for the industry and I wanted to contribute to that legacy. I had to start from scratch again. But when I came back, I used to get offers for some small roles but I took it on as I wanted to get back into the field. I got featured in many multi-starrers at that time. In my initial phase, I had looked the same in all my movies. In the second stint, I started to least change how my characters looked on screen.
It’s only when I consciously decided to experiment unabashedly that I found real success. Luckily in the last 10 years, my directors started offering me roles that no one believed I could do. My characters in Enna than case kodu, Bougainvillea and Officer on Duty are roles that no one would have dared to give me 10 years ago. I’m determined to make these different roles work and I’m loving this phase in my career when I’m getting these challenging roles.
I do believe my performance in Officer on Duty is my best ever.
Can you tell us about the phase when after the initial days of stardom you found the going tough in the industry?
It was a tough and emotional phase. I was depressed, but I didn’t quite realise it at that time. It look a lot of mental strength to come back from that.
I told myself that I have to start on a clean slate and not think about my initial days when things came easily. It was about taking one step at a time. I asked myself to keep moving. It didn’t matter if I was moving slow, as long as I was moving. Crawl if you needed to, but keep going. That’s what I told myself.
Now that I am going through this successful period, I deliberately don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’ve seen the ups and downs and want to keep myself grounded. I know where to draw the line and live beneath my means.
You are probably at the peak of your career now. What kind of changes have you made as far as your craft is concerned?
I decided to innovate and improvise on sets. I always did my homework before coming on to the set. But now I collaborate much more with my directors and create more on-the-spot improvisations. With directors getting more comfortable with offering me diverse roles, I have decided to break free. Earlier I was trapped in the image of the chocolate-boy hero.
Now, I approach a role with child-like enthusiasm. I want to experiment and innovate on my scenes. It’s the small things you do – the nuances – that matter. The difference is that I’m taking many more risks and they are paying off. You can fall ten times, but make sure you get up the eleventh time.
Be open to changes when you arrive on the set. Do not come with a fixed mindset. Sometimes, these last-minute changes can create magic on screen.
The last 10-15 years have seen a deluge of highly talented actors and directors coming into Malayalam cinema. There’s more competition not just from the younger lot like Fahad, Tovino, Prithvi and others but also from the established legends (Mammootty, Mohanlal). Has this forced you to think in terms of doing a pan-India film?
I don’t think you need to plan a pan-India movie. It’s all about picking the right content. I have realised that it’s better to do original stuff and not think about how wide the movie will go.
The Malayalam industry is doing so good that we don’t have to worry about anything but give your best to the role. The rest will fall in place on its own. We have elevated us to global levels by telling rooted, appealing stories.
One has to talk about your adaptability here. For nearly 30 years, you have been able to fight the competition, go with the changes and yet punch hard. It isn’t easy to do. Many actors have fallen by the way side, unable to cope with changing times. How have you managed to adapt?
People didn’t expect much from me after a point. That’s the truth. This fired me up. I wanted to prove people wrong. I want to go past my limits. My imagination may be limited but that’s when you keep an open mind and embrace things that come your way. Often, bigger things happen this way than when you plan and plot your moves.
Human beings have the power to adapt and survive. One has to just soul search and find that instinct. I was able to find my dormant passion and make it come alive. Expectations and over-expectations can be a big mood killer. Just keep an open mind and embrace each day.