When Baby turns Pappy
Alencier Ley talks about teaming up with Mammootty in Thoppil Joppan and his criterea while selecting roles.
No one can forget artist Baby alias Babychayan of Maheshinte Prathikaram. The only mentor of Fahadh’s Mahesh Bhavana. It was that role which helped actor Alencier Ley to get noticed among the family audiences. Now the actor has come up with another interesting rural character—Papychayan—in Mammootty-starrer Thoppil Joppan.
It is for the second time that the actor has teamed up with megastar Mammooty after Kasaba. Alencier points out that it was Kasaba that helped him to bag a role in Thoppil Joppan. “One day, during the shoot in Kolar, I got call from the production team to reach the location. I was planning an outing as I had no shoot that day. When I reached the location, Mammookka introduced me to two directors — Johny Antony and Salim Ahammed — who were there to meet him. Within days, I got a call from Joppan’s crew to join them for the role of Pappychayan. In fact, Johny had my name on his mind for that role but it was Mammookka’s introduction which led him to zero-in on me,” says the actor.
About selecting roles, the actor who was seen as the antagonist in Dulquer Salmaan’s Kammattipadam says, “I only go for roles that suit me. I’ve been a part of around 16 films. In the meantime, I have avoided some projects just because I felt those roles were not apt for me,” he says.
Alencier was active in theatres from his childhood days but was not keen on cinema. “Theatre is my first priority and it gives me full satisfaction. To be frank, cinema was not my target, but I acted in films of Venu and MP Sukumaran Nair, who had initiated us to natural acting. These acts help me to love cinema too. It was after I acted in Njan Steve Lopez that I decided to become active in this industry,” says the actor.
So why does he choose roles of characters that are older to him? “Even during my schooldays, I was asked to do older roles. I like to do such roles. I believe that an actor should try to come out of his comfort zone and take an extra effort to make his role believable. If I only do roles which are easy and similar to me, then there is no point in saying that I am acting,” he adds.