This Southern star can take Bollywood by surprise

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This Southern star can take Bollywood by surprise

Published: Thu 8 Feb 2018, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Fri 9 Feb 2018, 1:00 AM

Justly described as "God's own country", the picturesque Indian state of Kerala is also known for producing technically-polished films, which narrate stories rooted to the soil. Mohanlal and Mammootty have been Malayalam cinema's longest-lasting superstars through a span of four decades.
However, neither of the two, who have individually amassed a pile of awards for their accomplished performances in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films, proved to be stayers in Bollywood's starry scheme of things.
It wasn't for want of trying though. Mohanlal fetched up in the ensemble casts of Kaalapani (1996), Company (2002), Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007) and Tezz (2012). As for Mammootty, from the cherry-picked projects he chose to make his foray into Hindi films with, Dhartiputra (1993) tanked while a thriller titled Ek Din Anjane Mein (2006), co-featuring Raveena Tandon, was shelved.
Over to the upbeat news: Dulquer Salmaan, the 31-year-old son of Mammootty, has just wrapped up his first Hindi language film Karwaan, in which he shares screen space with Irrfan Khan and the web-series sensation Mithila Palkar.
This road movie, which kicks off in Kerala, will mark the directorial debut of Akash Khurana, the director of unconventional stage plays in Mumbai. That the project has been backed by Ronnie Screwvala, associated with scores of quality films like Swades (2004), Rang De Basanti (2006) and Jodhaa Akbar (2008), has added to the positive buzz around the project.
On a personal note, I may mention that during the '90s, while interviewing Mammootty on several occasions in his tastefully-appointed bungalow, Dulquer would be consistently shy, disappearing into the innards of the house, after a courteous "Salaam alaikum." I couldn't have ever predicted that the knee-high boy would grow up to become an uber charismatic actor.
He has already toplined a bunch of high-profile films in southern languages, winning awards galore - including for his turn in Mani Ratnam's O Kadhal Kanmani (2015), a love story which was remade in Hindi as OK Jaanu last year; in fact, I'm tempted to imagine that Dulquer would have recreated the role with far more restraint and nuance than Aditya Roy Kapur did in the retread... ah, but that's another story.
Evidently, at the outset, Dulquer Salmaan didn't wish to follow in the footprints of his ever-gregarious father Mammootty. Dulquer graduated from Purdue University in the US, with a degree in business management studies. His first job was in the IT sector in Dubai. On getting disenchanted with the daily slog, he veered towards acting, debuting in the Malayalam film Second Show (2012). As they say, a star was born, soon to be anointed also as one of India's style icons.
Perhaps aware that stardom can be fickle, the son of Muhammad Kutty Ismail Paniparambil - abbreviated to Mammootty for the screen - continues to multi-task. Reportedly, Dulquer still supervises a portal trading in cars and, quite unusually, dental hygiene!
Meanwhile, word is out that he has been pencilled in for his next Bollywood appearance in The Zoya Factor. He will enact the role of the captain of the Indian cricket team in the film adapted from a bestselling novel by Anuja Chauhan. His co-star will be Sonam Kapoor, who has no intentions of calling it quits after her imminent marriage to her steady beau Anand Ahuja.
Incidentally, Dulquer assented to his family's bidding for an arranged marriage seven years ago to architect Amal Sufiya. Their daughter, still to reach her first birthday, has been named Maryam Ameerah.
Hence, the actor may not exactly turn out to be Bollywood tabloids' delight, which is just as well at a time when newbies are seen and heard all over the media for their liaisons than for their acting calibre.
Calibre, did I say? Yes, it's an absolute must for any actor to do the role assigned to him or to her, and connect with the audience. Inexplicably, right to this day, gifted actors from the south prefer not to bite the Bollywood bait, as in the case of Prabhas, or don't integrate into the fold, as in the case of Rana Daggubati; both were seen to tremendous advantage in the Baahubali extravaganzas (2015 and 2017).
Here's keeping fingers crossed for Dulquer Salmaan. After all, the Bollywood league of heroes could actually do with a game-changer.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com

by

Khalid Mohamed

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