Appani Ravi was a personification of hell. Many of who watched Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Angamaly Diaries , say he made them tense every time he appeared on screen. Appani was vile, his threatening stare piercing through his opponents and his spine-chilling shrieks ringing terror. The character gave him his name and today, Sarath Kumar is better known as Appani Sarath.
After his brilliant portrayal of Ravi, Sarath has taken his fans by surprise yet again with his performance in the popular ‘Jimikki Kammal’ in Velipadinte Pusthakam. “I have been receiving so much appreciation for the dance and I feel humbled. I am not a dancer, but it worked for me,” he says over phone from Thiruvananthapuram, where he is awaiting the release of his third film, Pokkiri Simon releasing today.
“When we were shooting the song, none of us thought that it would become such a sensation. There are scores of versions of the song online now. I just feel really happy,” he says. When director Lal Jose called Sarath for the role, he was in the middle of the shooting of Pokkiri Simon . “He asked me if I could dance and I did not even pause to think before saying yes.” When the shoot started, Sarath says he felt tense, as he had never been a dancer before. In a single shot, however, he earned the praise of choreographer Prasanna and that boosted his confidence. “Whatever it is that I do, I just want to give my 100 %. People tell me that I have danced with effortless ease, but I have worked hard on the steps,” he says.
Films have consumed him all his life, he says. Even as he was doing his MA Theatre in Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, he pursued cinema. He would attend auditions until it became a habit. On one such audition at his own college, he was picked by Pellissery. “I was told there would be 86 new faces and I did not expect to get such an important role as Ravi’s.”
From then on, things took an unexpected turn. With a single role, Sarath found his place in Malayalam cinema. Appreciation came from as far as Bollywood with Anurag Kashyap comparing him to Manoj Bajpai. “That was a high point in my life. Priyadarsan sir, too, called and congratulated me.” Sarath has been getting a flurry of offers from Malayalam and Tamil. “I’m not in a position to pick and choose. And why would I do that? I welcome everything that comes my way and give my best.”
A theatre actor and director, Sarath has written and performed a number of plays across the State and outside. He attributes his acting abilities to his training in theatre. “I have been a constant part of theatre, be it amateur or professional. And even now, I attend and organise theatre workshops,” he says. Though his family was not in favour of him choosing acting as a profession, now they are happy. “They were there to watch Velipadinte Pusthakam first day first show. Now they understand what I meant when I said I wanted to act.”
In Pokkiri Simon , he plays Love Today Ganesan, a die-hard Vijay fan. Expectations are high, he says. “It is a fun film. It’s colourful and has everything a commercial film has.”
Sarath has been compared more than once by his fans to Dhanush and that makes him proud. “I am a huge fan of his myself and he is a brilliant actor. When people tell me I resemble him, I feel overwhelmed. I would like to meet him someday.”
Cinema is a tough medium and any role requires preparation, he says. “Observation, body and voice are the three integral things an actor needs. I am a keen observer, my body is my identity and my voice, thanks to theatre, I have learnt how to use it. I believe an actor needs to create his own identity with what he has. I can never be someone else.”
“I have been lucky enough to get roles that are different. I just want to do good films,” says the actor, who loves to sing folk songs. “Actors are a bit like living Gods, aren’t they? We respect them, look up to them. We cry with them and we laugh with them.”
Pyppin Chuvattile Pranayam and Amala are his upcoming films.
