Mumbai: Almost two decades after his debut in films, with Naseem, and four decades after his first stage debut, as a sunflower at the age of nine, Kay Kay Menon, the actor who hails from Kozhikode, has attained new found stardom with his portrayal of Khurram in Haider, based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
“I have enacted almost all the plays of Shakespeare on stage, including Hamlet. Obviously, being younger, I played the role of Hamlet, not Claudius. As all of Shakespeare’s characters, Claudius too had a lot of internal conflict. For me, the reference point is always the script and what the director wants.
Khurram had a positive side because of his love for Ghazala and a negative side because of his greed for power. So this internal conflict was interesting to work with. It was my first visit to Kashmir and I think Switzerland is no match for Kashmir.
We had to shoot in two different seasons for the film autumn and winter. It was a great experience,” says Kay Kay about the movie.
When asked about the protests during the shooting, he says, “I think these are small issues that don’t merit much attention. I think it was blown out of proportion only because it was Kashmir. Let’s not single out Kashmir.
The climate was a problem. When we shot in winter the place had the highest snowfall in 20 years with temperatures at minus 15 degrees. During the shoot, I slipped on the ice and suffered a hamstring injury.
However, I had to continue with the shoot or the entire movie would have to be put on hold for a year until the next winter. So I took some painkiller injections and went ahead with the shoot despite excruciating pain.”
One of the scenes that has the audience in splits in Haider is the innocence with which Khurram skids on his old green Bajaj scooter to stop Haider in his tracks. “I had absolutely no intention to skid the scooter like that.
I was only trying to turn the scooter and it skid on its own. So I guess it was the scooter that gave a good performance in the scene, not me! It was fun,” he says with a chuckle.
The actor is unfazed and unaffected by the accolades coming his way and says, “I’m dispassionately passionate about my work. While I’m completely engaged in the projects I’m working on, I rarely bother about what happens after its completion.
It’s good to know that people are accepting the film and if the wind is blowing in my favour now, that is great. But I’m more concerned about my upcoming projects.
One of the films I’m eagerly waiting for is Saat Uchakkey, which will have me and Manoj Bajpayee working together for the first time. If Manoj hadn’t done RGV’s Satya, it would have taken actors like me, Irrfan and Nawaz another six years or more to achieve the kind of space we are in today. So it is special. I have also done cameos in forthcoming movies Baby and Bombay Velvet.”
