Tony Luke's leap of faith

‘Passion’ is an overused word that actors use to express their love for cinema. But how many of these actors have sacrificed a career that earned them international name, fame and money and quit at the peak of their careers to follow their dream? Well, Tony Luke just did! The well known model who has blazed a trail on international ramps modeling for well known international brands quit his modeling career two years back, gave up his ultra glamorous lifestyle and moved to Kerala to pursue a career in films. The wait of three and a half years has borne fruit and how! Tony is a part of the Jeethu Joseph directed film Oozham that has Prithviraj in the lead.

The model who is making his debut through this film is over the moon. “I had wanted to be a part of Jeethu’s film from the time I heard about the project. I would even venture to say that I campaigned towards my goal. I totally gave up my modelling career for starters, learnt theatre and then sent Jeethu my photos and videos of my theatre work and TV commercials. I also kept in touch with him.” Tony’s happiness knew no bounds when he was called to assist in Jeethu’s film Life of Josutty. He continues, “I watched and learnt from Life of Josutty and only after that became a part of Oozham. I did everything in a phased manner, step by step starting from being an active observer to at last facing the camera.”

Even a modicum of regret has never crept into Tony’s mind as far as quitting modelling is concerned. Tony asserts, “I was doing very well and was at the peak of my modelling career when I quit! But I realised that I could not model as well as be an actor; so I decided to bid goodbye to my modelling days. I moved to Kerala and have been here for the past two years but no one knew about that. I did theatre to hone my acting skills. Yes, I made a huge sacrifice but it was worth it when I landed this project!” So did his debut film experience live up to his expectations? He replies, “I cannot divulge anything about my role and though I do not share screen space with Prithviraj, I got to work with other talented actors like Pasupathy, JP and Anson Paul. Jeethu was a pleasure to work with; he has such a calm temperament and is very cool. Though it is my debut, I learnt a lot of aspects about filmmaking. Jeethu played the role of a teacher as well as director to me!”

Tony has another film directed by Sidhartha Siva which has Nivin Pauly in the lead. So all’s well that begins well.