Anoop Menon has been a part of the Malayalam film industry for a while now. He has presented his best while handling various roles as an actor, director, scriptwriter and lyricist. He has yet again proved his skill in the latest super thriller movie ‘21 grams’. 

Becoming DySP Nanda Kishore

Landing the role of Crime Branch DySP Nanda Kishore was a coincidence. Director Bibin Krishna approached me with the script of ‘21 grams’ while I was shooting for ‘Padma’, written, directed and produced by me. I told him that I would read the script later. 

I flipped through the script when I got a break between shooting. I finished the script in one sitting as it was quite gripping. The climax that strays far from all predictions is what excited me the most. The minute I finished reading the script, I decided that I was going to be DySP Nanda Kishore. 

Working with a debutant director

I am a person who looks back at the way that I have travelled through. I started as a serial actor and have struggled to find opportunities in films. I was also denied many roles in movies due to my past as a serial actor. Bibin is a debutant director and I could see through his mind. It was my decision to not let go of him and his movie once I realised the strength and thrill of the script that he had prepared. 

Scriptwriting demands solitude

If you ask me what the easiest job in my life is, I would reply that it is acting. The toughest job is writing the script. When a person turns a scriptwriter, he/she becomes a loner. Other people working on movies have some sort of support system. But this is not the case with the scriptwriter. Another thing is that, most of the time I will not be writing the script that I had in mind in the beginning. I try to write scripts on the sets of the movie and I know that it is not a good habit. It is always better to keep the script ready well before the shooting of the movie starts. 

The Jayasurya-Anoop Menon combo

‘Jayan and I have done many movies together. Both of us had the realisation that we are not always meant to take the combo journey. This was the decision taken by us while we met in our flat after the movie ‘Hotel California’. Jayan has to travel in his path and I in mine. Our paths may cross again in the future. That will happen in the course of time.’