Around 10 years back. Appu was working as an engineer in a Bengaluru-based company when his close friend Sijo decided to do a short film for a fest organised by his firm Infosys. He called Appu to do a prominent role in that project and later, in a music video of his. Now, Appu has come in front of the movie camera in a pivotal role through Oru Muthassi Gadha (OMG) directed by the same Sijo, who is now known as Jude Anthany Joseph.
About his friendship with Jude and arrival to the film industry, Appu says, “We were college mates at UC College, Aluva, where we pursued pre-degree course. Since then, we have been close friends, but had to move to different locations for graduation. After engineering, Jude joined Infosys and within a few years, I too shifted to the same city, but in a different firm. It was then he told me about his dream to become a filmmaker. As my brother-in-law Anoop (brother of actor Dileep) is a film producer, I told him about Jude’s dream. He arranged for Jude to join the direction department of Dileepettan’s Crazy Gopalan. Jude then quit his job and joined filmdom. Though I too had the same dreams, I stayed back to get married to my love-interest Arathy.”
And Appu debuted as an actor with Jude’s maiden movie Ohm Shanthi Oshaana. “When that film was being planned, he gave me the role of a sub inspector. That gave me enough confidence to act,” says Appu, who resigned his job in 2013. After Ohm Shanthi Oshaana, he was with Jude, who was busy planning his next film.“From then, we have heard many stories, but none of those scripts impressed us.
It was then Nivin Pauly shared the basic thread of Oru Muthassi Gadha with Jude. Within a few days, he developed it into an interesting story. But it was after he completed the first draft of the script that he told me about casting me as a Bengali servant in the film. That was a really big news for me. As my role was finalised, I started prepping for the character, by visiting labour camps in Perumbavoor and surrounding areas.
Now I am really happy that the film as well as my role is getting good comments,” says the actor, who is also credited as assistant director in the film. About his next, he says “As of now, I have not committed to any film, but in future, I may direct a film with Jude in the lead role. I was really enjoying the scenes in which I was sharing the screen space with him in OMG. Now, my dream is to see him in the scenes set by me.”
