He is a talented Malayalam actor who, over a 15-year career, has seen his share of ups and downs. Today, Asif Ali has made a name for himself for his unique script selection and willingness to push the boundaries of his craft. With two back-to-back successes- Rekhachithram (streaming on Sony LIV) and Kishkindha Kaandam, the Thalavan star is back in the reckoning as a lead actor who can deliver blockbusters and win critical acclaim. In a chat with Hindustan Times, Asif Ali talks about his career so far and what makes him tick. (Also read: Malayalam actor Asif Ali wins hearts by gifting paper boat to fan who greets him at event. Watch)
How does it feel to have two back-to-back hits?
Finally, it happened, I was dying for it! (laughs)
You went through a rough patch in 2022 and 2023 where your films didn’t do well, but you continued to work relentlessly. And it paid off in 2024 and 2025. So, how do you choose your scripts?
In the initial days of my career, I had a problem with my script selection. I couldn’t control my excitement with the projects I got, and I jumped into so many scripts that I couldn’t pull off. But 2025 is my 16th year in this industry, and I’ve done around 82 films now. But something happened in the last three years. I was working with so many great directors, and I got to work with so many good actors. All this affected my script selection. Even my personal life changed because I had all these people around me. So, my script selection and the kind of films I started selecting got better – all this happened because of the people around me.
Throughout your career, you’ve done films where you are the lead and also multi-starrers. What is the thought process behind this?
It’s all about my characters – my excitement to do a film comes from the character I am to play. I don’t choose my films from a hero’s point of view but from the character’s. I make sure when I do a multi-starrer that my character has importance, screen space that is impactful and I can relate to it in some way. For instance, I did Uyare in 2019 with Parvathy Thiruvothu. All my so-called well-wishers were against me doing the role of Govind (Parvathy’s boyfriend) as it was a negative character. At that time, I was comfortably doing some feel-good movies, and I had this next boy-next-door image. People asked me why I wanted to play a negative character in a female-oriented film. But I wanted to do that film because the script by Bobby-Sanjay was so brilliant. I had seen friends in toxic relationships like this, and I found it very relatable.
Your father is in politics, but you chose to become an actor and not follow in his footsteps.
Again, that’s because of my father. My father is a big movie buff – he’s a hardcore Mohanlal fan. We used to watch every single release as a family. So, from my younger days, I was a film buff. I was, and I am, a Mohanlal fan. I also used to watch Kamal Haasan movies. In fact, I wanted to be an actor just because of Kamal Haasan. The way he chooses his characters and the way he gives an identity to his characters – that was my kick. I wanted to live so many identities like him. If you watch Kamal Haasan in one movie, you can’t see the same Kamal Haasan in his next one. That got me excited, and I wanted to do this. I wanted to experience living different personalities and different lifestyles. And definitely, I wanted this superstar image and a fanbase. But when I did my first film, Ritu, with director Shyamaprasad, he completely changed my attitude. He showed me a different perspective on cinema. He showed me a different way of getting satisfaction from a film.
You said you wanted to be a superstar. Have you achieved that now?
Now, I’m not bothered about the stardom. The only thing I’m bothered about is the satisfaction I get from playing a role and the appreciation I get for playing these roles. I don’t believe in this stardom anymore.