This teacher’s name is Sreenivasan and he teaches Malayalam. Not Java. Yes, he also has a hair thinning problem and yes, he also has an interest in a fellow teacher, but he is nothing like Vimal Sir. Vinay Forrt, playing Sreenivasan in his new film Thamasha, makes sure of that.
“That was the biggest challenge. I was conscious that it should not at all be similar to the Vimal Sir character I played in Premam. There were some similarities – like a complex about his thinning hairline and an interest in a woman teacher. But I was determined that it should not look like I was repeating my performance in Premam,” Vinay says.
The offer of Thamasha has been like winning the lottery, he says. It is a dream team. The four producers of the film are Lijo Jose Pellissery (the man who made Ee Ma Yau), Chemban Vinod (the actor who wrote Angamaly Diaries), Sameer Thahir (who has done cinematography for films from Big B to Sudani from Nigeria and directed a few like Chaappa Kurishu), and Shyju Khalid (suffice to say he was the cinematographer of Kumbalangi Nights). The director is new but creative enough to be trusted by this bunch of producers – Ashraf Hamza from Ponnani. Vinay did not have any second thoughts.
“I am just an ordinary actor, I do not have a big market. I survive by hard work and commitment. So when such a team comes and asks me to play the main character, I consider it luck,” Vinay says. He sounds a little modest there, for Vinay, just like his producers, has a reputation that he can be trusted with any role. And one who can occasionally surprise you with roles like that of a diligent auto rickshaw driver in Shutter, a policeman who looks like no policeman in Kismath and a radio anchor who turns Gandhian in Godsay. His debut 10 years ago was as a gay man in Shyamaprasad’s Rithu, new for Malayalam cinema then, and even though he appeared only in a single scene no one forgot Vinay.
Those are characters Vinay holds precious even after years. “After Kismath, Shane’s (who played the male lead in the film) late father Abhi had called to appreciate me. He said I look nothing like the policemen usually seen in cinema, played by actors like Mammootty or Suresh Gopi. He said he didn’t see Vinay but only the policeman I played. That’s my reply to the comments that criticise me for my looks.”
Thamasha addresses that too – body shaming. It is essentially a romantic comedy – a commercial entertainer like Vinay wanted (we will come to that) – but it also addresses an important issue. “I have been body shamed since I was 15 for my thinning hairline. Even words like ‘kashandi’ (bald head) would hurt. We don’t have control over our looks. It is very wrong to mock someone for it,” Vinay says.
Vinay with Divyaprabha in Thamasha
It of course has gotten worse with social media and the kind of anonymity it gives commenters. Anyone can come and pour out comments on anyone else’s space – a space, that Vinay points out, is occupied by the victim’s relatives and friends who’d all see the ‘brutal words’. “Women actors have it worse. They are fat shamed, their body parts are made fun of. Yeah, maybe most people have opinions about others’ bodies, but you don’t say that in a public platform!” Vinay says.
It does not bother him when it is a stranger that passes abusive comments on his social media pages. “The people I value are my family and friends, a creative circle. Whatever comes from outside of it does not bother me. I don’t reply to their comments. I just respond through my work,” he says.
And what the actor would like to do now is to work in a commercial entertainer – a commercial hit is what he wants most, Vinay is clear about that. “We are all commercial products here. Once I have a commercial hit, I’d get more choices – good characters from good directors and good writers. And then perhaps I will be able to choose,” the actor says.