65th National Film Awards: Fahadh Faasil's Best Supporting Actor Win is Proof That You Can Turn Bad Starts To Great Victories
The 65th National Film Awards was announced and Fahadh Faasil has been adjudged the Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a thief (who could be God) in Dileesh Pothan's Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum.
The year was 2002. Popular Malayalam director Fazil decided to revisit his hot Aniyathipravu days by launching his son in a similar movie. So the 19-year old Fahadh Faasil made his debut under the direction of his father in Kaiyethum Doorathu. The movie was riding on a lot of expectations. The songs were a hit, and Mammootty had an extended cameo in the movie. Everyone wanted Fahadh to be the next Kunchacko Boban. Then the movie came out and it was a disaster at the box office. Not just that, Fahadh Faasil was completely written off as an actor by the critics and his father's directorial career suffered a huge setback from which he could never recover. The young actor packed his bags and left off to US, and we thought that was the last we would see of him on screen.
Cut to 2018. The 65th National Film Awards was announced and Fahadh Faasil has been adjudged the Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a thief (who could be God) in Dileesh Pothan's Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum. As a huge lover of Malayalam movie, I am quite happy with this news. And I am sure whoever has hatched this realistic black comedy would agree with me. And it also begs to ask this question - how did Fahadh manage to achieve this complete turnaround? For that we have to go back to 2009.
After a gap of six years, Fahadh returned to the silver screen with an important role in the anthology movie Kerala Cafe. He had changed his looks then - he had removed off his moustache and had no issues flaunting his balding pate. But it was just not his looks that had a makeover - even his performance and body language had that too. Fahadh appeared much more confident and expressive in his second outing, even if it was very brief. I remember specifically discussing with friend, when we watched the movie, that he is now poised to have a long innings in Malayalam cinema, something that was never seen in his debut movie. And Fahadh didn't disappoint at all!
In his second innings, Fahadh started off slow with supporting roles in Pramani, Cocktail and Tournament. Maybe it was his strategy to get us habitualised to the fact that he can act. Then he took a risk that could have backfired big time - 2011's Chappa Kurishu - but it worked in his favour. A thriller ripped off from a Korean movie, Fahadh Faasil played a character with grey shades. Moreover for a industry that usually shy away from kissing scenes, he has a long lovemaking scene with Ramya Nambeesan in the movie. Though the movie failed at the box office, it allowed the critics and the viewers to see Fahadh in a different light. This boy can take risks!
However, it was not the biggest risk he took. That came in a year later with 22 Female Kottayam. Playing a vile character who doesn't mind pimping off his girlfriend for his selfish benefits and later getting bobbitted for it, both the masses and the critics applauded his act. Maybe as a reward for his risks and hard work, Fahadh soon found commercial viability as the leading man in Lal Jose's Diamond Necklace, where he again played a morally ambiguous character though not as evil as 22FK's Cyril.
Even after establishing himself as a likeable leading man, Fahadh didn't stop himself from taking on offbeat and risky ventures. He played a Romeo-kind of role in Rajeev Ravi's Annayum Rasoolum, a bullied musician in Lijo Jose Pellissery's Amen, an introvert with OCD in North 24 Kaatham and an egoistic painter in Artist. Needless to say, he excelled in every one of them. He also tried his hand in far more mainstream works like Sathyan Anthikad's Oru Indian Pranayakadha and Lal Jose's Immanuel, and he was a charm in them. It is not easy to perform against an actor like Mammootty in Immanuel or even Mohanlal in Red Wine, and get singled out for praise.
Sure there were duds like Akam, Haram, Olipporu, Money Ratnam, Role Models, Monsoon Mangoes, 1 By Two and Ayal Njanalla. But there were Bangalore Days, Iyobinte Pusthakam, God's Own Country and Take Off to compensate for that.
He had won two State Awards and three Filmfare Awards in these years.
Just when we thought maybe we have seen all of Fahadh's range as an actor, in comes Dileesh Pothan and his maiden directorial venture, Maheshinte Prathikaram. Playing an everyday man who runs a photo studio, Fahad was simply brilliant here. There is no way you don't believe him as a villager of Idukki, who wears an insult from a fight in his heart for months like a burning cross.
We were not surprised when Pothan repeated him in his second movie, an equally brilliant Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum. But we were surprised when we learnt that he had more of a supporting role of a boorish thief, leaving the leading man duties to Suraj Venjaramoodu, a National award winner himself. But like with Chappa Kurishu, we failed at first to realise that this was just another terrific ploy by Fahadh to subvert our expectations and surprise us by delivering another layered, strong performance. And see what it got him - his first National Award!
So congrats Fahadh for your win and also for your admirers who supported you throughout your journey! We are sure your hunger as an actor will only increase with this National award win! It also gives us a lesson - If you have a vision and a willingness to work towards that, a disastrous start doesn't matter at all.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 13, 2018 04:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).