Anoop Menon: The intellectual garb festooned on me is unwarranted

As it rains, Anoop Menon sits in his big balcony facing the backwaters of Kochi, enjoying the heavens open. He looks completely relaxed and one would feel that this man could sit there forever, without being bothered about the ‘big world’ outside. As the conversation starts, you see a well-read, informed and travelled mind behind every word and the way he handles questions. Recently, he turned a writer, penning his travel experiences. On the big screen, after a sabbatical of four years, he is back as a scribe, with

Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal

, a romantic flick in which he also plays the lead. As Anoop speaks about his films, journeys and more, we listen in:

You are writing for a film after four years and are also playing a romantic hero in it. What's special about Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal?
I didn’t realise I haven’t scripted a film for four years, being busy travelling and doing an occasional project or two that came my way. A few were good and others, bad. Everyone around kept asking me to do another movie like Beautiful and also questioned why I am playing roles double my age, like those in Vikramadithyan, Pa.Va and Pavada. What I inferred is that the audience wanted to see that side of me, which they watched while I was a serial artiste.




Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal is not a deliberate attempt to fulfil it. It’s a story that strangely got unveiled before me, two-and-a-half-years ago. My wife Shema and I were staying in a wooden lodge in the Himalayas. It was winter and everything was beneath a layer of snow. Apart from us, there was just another couple in the lodge and they hardly looked like a husband and wife. That made me curious. Interestingly, I got to speak to them the next morning and the husband shared with me, their story.

He was a chef and his wife, a candle designer. Their story was strange and unique, and it captivated me enough to get inspired for this film. In Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal, there is no Anoop Menon, only a debonair and bohemian chef named Sanjay Paul. I have always been fascinated by chefs and I make it a point to meet them at all the hotels I visit. Sanjay has all their traits.



While we have had movies in which friendship transforms to love, this film shows how love brings in a beautiful friendship between two souls. I have tried to uncover the beauty of the process. There is a great phase post the onset of love, in which companionship and friendship set in, and that’s the realm in which this movie belongs. It’s also the USP of the film and it’s better watched with that frame of mind.

On the mini-screen front, you were a sought-after romantic hero and in films, we saw many different and intellectual facets of you. Was it tough to bring back the romantic again?
The serial to cinema transition is tough and probably, I am the lone film actor with so many serials to his credit. It’s pure luck and out of my 70 films, I was the hero in 40. I had to continuously do films to shrug off the mini-screen image and it was a struggle. Initially, I was taken off from many films due to this and I dealt with it by signing every other film I got, even compromising on the quality. But I think the strategy worked for me.

While scripting Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal, I was never my choice for the hero’s role, but things worked differently, and I had to finally do it. Probably, another romantic hero might have played Sanjay better, but that’s for the audience to gauge.


As for the intellectual garb, it was just festooned on me and it was unwarranted, thanks to Pakalnakshathrangal or to those interviews in which I was asked highbrow questions. I am not that person.

Among my friends, I am still that guy who is just out of college and nobody treats me like a geek. At times, I can be immensely stupid too (laughs). I like to be easy-going but if someone wants me to be tough, I can put on that image as per the situation demands.

However, didn’t the serial background help you get established quickly?
Of course. I am proud of my serial background and the works like Megham, Muhoortham and Swapnam, which were a class apart. What I earlier referred to is the perception of the film folks, which does not easily accept serial stars. I was ousted from more than 20 films in the last minute, just because I have a mini-screen history and the hero or the producer didn’t like it. It still happens.

Your earlier films Cocktail and Beautiful were alleged to be way too ‘inspired’ from foreign films. Will Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal too face a similar trial? It’s a false allegation and people referred to the French flick The Intouchables, while talking about Beautiful. If it was so, I would have gone to its writers Oliver Nakache and Eric Toledano’s house and stolen that script and copied it. Both the films were released in the same year — one in September and the other in December. Beautiful is inspired from an incident in my childhood and it’s completely mine. As for Cocktail, I admit that it was inspired, and that’s why the film’s credit didn’t have my name. I don’t take credit for inspired films.



You had female fans who admired you for being the quintessential Malayali man. Why do they say they miss that aspect of you on screen?
I wasn’t aware that’s the popular perception of me. I was busy doing films and all I thought was that I’m getting offers, as people like me.
Now, I don’t write as much as I used to. I haven’t appeared in any songs recently and the films I signed, didn’t have elements to improve my image further, either. I guess everyone has such phases, though I didn’t realise it, not being part of any rat race. I love to live in my space, without any competition. I don’t have godfathers or a mimicry background. I have carved my own path and while on it, I don’t check what others are doing. I knew if I had stopped at any point for that, comparisons would have followed.

I don’t consider myself to be so talented as a Jayasurya or Fahadh Faasil and have my own way of working. It’s the holistic craft of making a film that I enjoy, more than acting in it. The journey of the film matters more to me than excelling as an actor. The actor in me takes a backseat whenever I write. I do not have that megalomaniac in me. Ranjiettan (Director Ranjith) has told me once that I must love myself, much more.
I detach from myself while acting. I don’t watch my films and I know the repercussions of it are visible on screen. However, I also know that my heart is fully in the film. I don’t want to be in movies as an actor, just for emotional security.

Does it mean that a director is in the making?
There is always a possibility, as I love the medium of cinema. I love making actors do something that I have written. In this film,

actor Baiju

has done a fantastic character. I don’t know what’s going to be the fate of the film but I am sure that it will redefine the actor in Baiju. He is enormously talented, and we still haven’t explored his potential. So was making Miya get into her character. Also, working with Lal Jose was something that I really enjoyed. Eliciting something out of them was fun. So, I might direct a film soon.



You said you explored different places across the globe in the past four years. What did you infer from them?
You will realise that your existence or daily angsts don’t matter much. But you have to go a long way to reach a point in which you aren’t bothered about anything. I have miles to go, but I am getting there. I believe that all you should bother about is your physical and mental health. As someone who has explored India well, I believe that once you discover our country, no other place will fascinate us. Except for cleanliness, we have everything else, that’s diverse and unique. We can see the geography, plants and even the colour of sand changing from place to place.

Everything looks the same in Europe — London is Paris, Paris is Italy and Italy is Spain. The streets and the buildings are quite similar. On the other side, countries like Singapore, Bangkok, China, Malasiya and Thaliand aren’t very different.

My travels also made me realise that life is spontaneous and unpredictable. I have no plans for future as I want to take life as it comes. After a point, you realise that’s how things work. The bottom line is that we need to try to get the best out of every minute of our life. Ultimately what matters is how blissful your life is.