He has never played a hero in any hit movie
Nadirshah
He has never played a hero in any hit movie, but he is quite popular among Malayalis. The multifaceted Nadirshah, who has donned the hats of singer, mimicry artiste, stage show director, lyricist, parody writer and music director, has recently bagged one more title — a super hit filmmaker, through the multi-starrer film Amar Akbar Anthony. Though many film buffs criticise it as ‘late entry’, he has clear answers to all such criticisms.
When he donned the role of a director, for a stage show, at the age of 20, he had never dreamt of calling shots for big screen actors. “I started my mimicry career at the age of 16 and that career gave me all the fame. It was only later I got acquainted with the film fraternity. My complete concentration was on my stage career, in which I was the actor and the show director,” says Nadirshah. His skill in scribbling parody has played an important role in his career.
“During my college days, I used to work in a factory Carborundum Universal in Kochi. On the way to work, I used to replace the lyrics of popular songs with tricky words so that I could tease my friends. This became popular among my friend circles. Thus I got the opportunity to pen parodies for stage shows, audio cassettes and video cassettes,” says Nadirshah, who got the first offer to direct a film owing to such a cassette.
Nadirshah got his first call from the M’town after his spoof skit on James Cameron’s Titanic became a hit. “I think it was 1997-98. Impressed by the skit, R. Mohan of Good Night films put forward an offer to direct a film for his production house. In fact, I was not dreaming to become a director and my only experience in the industry was as an actor. Though I had directed stage shows and cassette programmes, I was pretty sure that the ‘making’ and ‘grammar’ of a film are entirely different. Naturally, I rejected the offer. I told him that I would do a film only after I learn about direction,” he says.
Again it took many years for Nadirshah to convince himself that he could direct a film. “In 2007-08, I decided to direct a film. Meanwhile, I tried my best to understand more about films, though I have not assisted any filmmakers. When I decided to direct a film, the first person who came to me was my close friend Dileep. He said he would give me open date for my project, even though he was very busy at that time. He also agreed to produce it. But unfortunately, I could not zero in on a story, which is suitable to get launched as a director,” he recollects.
Meanwhile, many of his foes and ‘pretending friends’ started teasing him in the name of his directorial debut. “That adversely affected me. But my family and close friends, including Dileep and Salim (Salim Kumar), stood behind me with all support. They knew the reason behind that lag. Jayasurya too offered me his open dates for my project. But I had no clue on how to land a project,” says the 45-year-old director.
It was through actor Kalabhavan Shajon the script of Amar Akbar Anthony came to Nadirshah. “In the first reading itself, I understood that I had found the apt script for my debut. In no time, I called Jayasurya and he said ‘yes’. The next cast was Prithviraj and through him, I reached Indrajith,” says Nadirshah, who is overwhelmed with the good response to the movie from all centres. He is now all set to remake Amar Akbar Anthony in Tamil.
“That will be my next and it will be produced by United Global Media along with Shibu Thameens. We have not decided on the cast yet,” says the director, who wants to do a movie with Dileep one day. “I will direct a film for NAD visual media, owned by me and Dileep, for which we produced Dhe Maveli Kombath. Dileep will be the hero in that film,” he sums up.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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