14/04/2016
No two entries could have been more different.
One was a known entity. The other was a non-entity.
One’s entry was well-anticipated. The other walked in as another unknown face among a motley crowd of new faces.
One wore the shiny, yet uncomfortably heavy crown of the young prince. The other didn’t have the weight of expectations around his neck.
One has the God as his father. The other didn’t have any Godfather.
One rejected movie roles offered on a platter to learn more about the nuances of filmmaking. The other threw away his corporate job in pursuit of creative satisfaction.
Chalk and Cheese.
Dulquer Salmaan and Nivin Pauly.
Their entry to Malayalam filmdom was separated by two years, Nivin in 2010 and Dulquer in 2012, yet as we are in 2016, these talented youngsters seem to have shoulders brawny enough to carry Malayalam cinema in the present and into the future. Dulquer and Nivin are different in everything they do, yet strung together by their passion to do quality cinema. Neither calls himself a superstar or even a star, while the critical and box office reception of most of their films show they are more than worthy of being anointed the stars. Dulquer’s Twitter handle describes him as a "film, auto and business enthusiast," while Nivin goes one step ahead in clear simplicity, calling himself just an "actor in Malayalam films."
A still from Charlie
In a relatively short span of time, both Dulquer and Nivin have also established themselves as youth icons who capture the pulse of their young audience. Their sartorial choices are much awaited and mimicked by the Malayalee payyans. Remember the black shirt-white dhoti wave that swept over Kerala post Premam? Charlie’s offbeat clothes and Arjun’s stylish casuals made headlines too. Both actors choose to stay close to their fans via social media. While Dulquer has over 4.1 million followers on Facebook and about 370,000 on Twitter with 3,100 tweets, Nivin has 3.5 million followers on Facebook but lags behind on Twitter with 65,000 followers and just 148 tweets.
Both have had their fair share of successes and failures. While Premam, Thattathin Marayathu and Om Shanti Oshana worked wonders for Nivin, Second Show, Ustad Hotel, and Charlie played a huge role in crowning Dulquer as the heir apparent. And they gladly shared success in Bangalore Days. Nivin saw failure with Bhoopadathil Illatha Oridam, and The Metro. DQ saw Theevram being his first damp squib. With success came controversies too, with Nivin being criticized for an apparent lack of range and Dulquer for letting his father choose his movies. (Not true, Dulquer clarified. We don’t really mind.) Nivin won his first State Award for the flawless portrayals of the cricket crazy Rameshan in 1983 and the naïve Kuttan in Bangalore Days. Dulquer followed suit as the nuanced Charlie in the eponymous movie.
While being smart enough to partake in commercially-viable movies, the choices of these actors bear testimony to their commitment to the art as well. They have no qualms being guest actors, sharing screen space with other heroes, and even donning sidekick roles. They work with well-established directors as well as newbies. There are more parallels: the influence, conscious or not, of the erstwhile easygoing brilliant actor Mohan Lal in their acting; the choice of relatable roles which capture the pulse of the audience, young and not so young. Their characters are human. Not infallible. Not perfect. Not always goodie-two-shoes. They are human, and they enact them so well that the audience can watch it like a story unfolding in their neighborhood. They even venture into other aspects of cinema, with Dulquer singing playback for three movies while Nivin launched his own production house.
Yet, they are different.
One is Charlie, the enigmatic djinn, who keeps us at arm’s length.
The other wins over our hearts as George, simple and powerful like Java.
From Bangalore Days
As Nivin and Dulquer march ahead, charting courses and marking territories of their own, joisted by an able horde of directors, screenplay writers, and technicians, the road ahead does pose its challenges to both these actors. One big question looms large on the horizon: will they face "death by typecast"?
Most of the roles which Nivin has essayed so far show him as the boy next door, sometimes naïve, sometimes a little dumb, and even foolhardy. Remember Kuttan, Umesh, Vinod, Rameshan, and Biju? Even the names exude ordinariness. He has tried his best to shake off the garb of the naïve youth by enacting the rough and tough Biju Poulose in Action Hero Biju, yet the heart of gold shines bright. His role in Ivide had shades of grey, and he has proven with Da Thadia that he can convincingly handle a negative character.
Dulquer, on the other hand, is yet to successfully portray a simple boy next door. It is difficult to be simple. He is the prodigal son in ABCD, a ruthless goon in Second Show, a problem child in Ustad Hotel, Vikramadithyan, 100 Days of Love, and Bangalore Days, and an enraged young man in his recent release Kali. Makes you wonder where he is coming from! The exception is Pattam Pole in which he is from a perfectly functional (perhaps a bit too much) family. Two other important films he has done are Ranjith’s Njaan and Mani Ratnam’s O.K. Kanmani. And look at the names of his characters: Harshavardhan, Karthikeyan, Balan K. Nair, Arjun, Adithya Menon, Charlie… If names had socio-economic classes assigned to them, would these be SEC A?
Another pertinent question that arises is whether they would fall prey to the lures of stardom. Once the initial passion wears off, will they put commercial interests before the quality of cinema? Will they form cliques and camps and do movies to please friends? Will we see these self-effacing talents morph into self-aggrandizing heroes portraying larger-than-life characters? Will Nivin do a Koothara and Dulquer a Rajadhi Raja?
Worse still… will they succumb to the Malayalam version of Batman vs. Superman?
(Caricature by SajiCS Cherpu)