Did You Know That These 8 Actors Used To Be Child Artists?

Suresh Gopinathan Nair, the National Award winning actor is mainly famous for his police roles and reviving the macho male image in Malayalam. But how many know that the ‘Commissioner’ actor made his debut as a child artist? The actor did make his debut as a child actor and that too in one of the classics of Malayalam. ‘Odayil Ninnu’ (1965), directed by ace director KS Sethumadhavan had ‘Master’ Suresh Gopi acting in a brief role as the feudal lord’s son. The film, based on the celebrated novel by P Keshavadev had the stalwarts of Malayalam cinema, Sathyan and Prem Nazir playing the lead roles. Suresh Gopi went on to become one of the biggest stars of Malayalam at one point. He won the National Award for Best Actor in 1998 for ‘Kaliyattam’, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. From ‘Odayil Ninnu’, which literally means ‘From the Gutter’, to ‘Kaliyattam’, that’s what you call growth.

The chocolate boy of Malayalam has acted in more than sixty Malayalam movies. He made a spectacular debut with the Fazil film ‘Aniyathipravu’ in 1997. The film which enjoyed a stupendous success made him an overnight star. But Aniyathipravu’ was only his first movie as the lead. His first movie was ‘Dhanya’ (1981), the Mohanlal starrer in which he acted as a child artist. Ironically, both his ‘debut’ movies were directed by hitmaker Fazil. Kunchacko Boban enjoyed unprecedented adulation during the early 2000’s and starred in some of the most remembered movies of that time like ‘Priyam’, ‘Niram’, ‘Mayilpeelikkavu’ and ‘Harikrishnans’ (1998).

The cat eyed actor from Kannur recently made his debut as a director through the Fahadh Faasil starrer ‘Ayal Njanalla’. The actor was a pro as a child artist and has acted in many high profile movies during the 90’s. He has even won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist for ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha’ (1989). His other film during this period include ‘Padippura’, ‘Anagha’, ‘Dasharatham’(1989), ‘Bharatham’, ‘Inspector Balram’ (1991) etc. Later he gradually established himself as a prominent actor with films like ‘Sharjah To Sharjah’ (2001) , ‘Pranayamanithooval’ (2002), ‘Sethurama Iyer CBI’ (2004) and ‘Chapters’ (2012) etc. His most recent movie as the lead was ‘Vegam’ in 2014.

Eldest son of 80’s superstar Sukumaran, Indrajith Sukumaran is one of the most talented lead actors in Malayalam today. He was born to Sukumaran and Mallika in Thiruvananthapuram on 17 December 1980. The actor made his full length acting debut through the Vinayan film, ‘Oomappenninu Uriyadappayyan’ in 2002 and found success through the villain role in ‘Meesa Madhavan’, released in the same year. His first role in cinema, though was in ‘Padayani’ released in 1986. The film was produced by his father and had an ensemble cast including Mammootty, Mohanlal, Sobhana, Adoor Bhasi, Sukumaran and TG Ravi. Indrajith played the younger version of Mohanlal’s character in the film. ‘Padayani’ was the remake of the hit Bollywood film, ‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’. Today, Indrajith is one of the most sought after actor in Malayalam with films like ‘Angels’, ‘Masala Republic’ (2014), ‘Kohinoor’, ‘Double Barrel’ (2015) proving his prowess as an actor.

Vineeth came from an illustrious family which had actresses like Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini, Sobhana and Sukumari as its members. He started learning Bharatanatyam from the age of six and was already a star before making his entry into films. He is someone, who literally grew up on screen. He started off as a child artist in movies like ‘Nakhakshathangal’ and ‘Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal’ (1986). He made his debut with the IV Sasi film ‘Idanilangal’, which had Mammootty and Mohanlal in lead roles. He gradually went on to position him as a dancer and lead actor later. He found success in not just in Malayalam films, but went on to become a sensation in Tamil with iconic films like ‘May Madham’ (1994) and ‘Kadhal Desham’ (1996).

Malayalam film lovers can’t forget Biyon. Popularly known as Biyon Gemini, the actor is most famous for playing Suresh Gopi’s childhood in the hit Rafi – Mecartin film, ‘Thenkasipattanam’ (2000). The actor began his acting career with the cult Mammootty film, ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha’ in 1989. He went on to star in hit films like ‘Bharatham’ (1991), ‘Sandhesham’ (1991), ‘Thalasthaanam’ (1992) and ‘Chronic Bachelor’ (2003). After a short break from movies, the actor came back to Mollywood as a lead with the period drama, ‘Kunthapura’ in 2013. ‘Parankimala’, ‘Uthara Chemmeen’ (2015) are his other movies as a solo hero.

The years 2000-2002 saw the rise of many young talents in Malayalam industry. Indrajith, Jayasurya, Siddharth, Prithviraj and Jishnu Raghavan were some of them. Son of veteran actor Raghavan, Jishnu made his debut as a lead actor with the Kamal film, ‘Nammal’ (2002). It became a rage among the youth upon release and made both the heroes, Siddharth Bharathan and Jishnu, a sensation. The actor though had appeared as a child artist in ‘Kilippattu’ (1987), which was directed by his father. Later he starred in a string of hit movies like ‘Nerariyan CBI’ (2005), ‘Chakkara Muthu’ (2008) and ‘Nidra’ (2012).

Who can forget the cute and naughty kid from the Mammootty film, ‘Pappayude Swantham Appoos’? The Fazil film and the kid in it was so popular that, its title song ‘Olathumbathirunnu’ was one song which most mothers used to sing for their kids at one point of time. Badusha played the role of Mammootty’s son, Appu in the film. Nephew of late comedian Cochin Haneefa, Badusha won the prestigious Kerala State Award for Best Child artist in the year 1992. Fast forward to 2015, Badusha made his debut as the lead actor in 2015. ‘Mumbai Taxi’, directed by Fazil Basheer had the actor playing a Taxi driver in Mumbai.