Staging a comeback
P.K. AJITH KUMAR
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After playing the villain for many years, T.G. Ravi’s characters now tug at the heartstrings of television viewers. He has won the State television award for the best actor.
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Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup
Makeover: Film actor T.G. Ravi.
He quit acting when he was at his peak, as one of the dreaded villains of Malayalam cinema. T.G. Ravi is now active again as an actor, after a break.
And he is back with an award. He won the State television award for the best actor this year for his role in ‘Nizhalroopam,’ a telefilm on Amrita TV. He played a timid, old man who witnesses a murder.
That smile has lost much of its wickedness and his eyes no longer terrorise hapless victims.
“These days I get roles that move women to tears, like the one I did in the telefilm ‘Kannanthali Poothappol.’ I had played a man belonging to the lower classes of society who recalls poverty on an Onam day. I don’t get offers to play villains any more,” says the man who was one of the busiest villains in the 1980’s.
Why did he leave films when he was doing so well?
“The company I founded in Thrissur soon after I took my engineering degree was in a major crisis and it needed my full-time presence. I had no time to think of acting, but a few years ago, when I felt like facing the camera again, I was offered a role in ‘Amrutham’ by Sibi Malayalil. Then I got a good role, that of a farmer in ‘Pakal’.
“It feels good to be an actor again; after all this is something I have been doing since my school days.” Ravi began acting in the plays put up by the young men in his village, Moorkkanikkara, in Thrissur district. He also started acting in professional drama.
Radio plays
Radio plays were popular in those days. “I desperately wanted to act in radio dramas, but found that the nearest AIR station that produced plays was in Kozhikode. There I met Thikkodiyan, who recommended me to director Aravindan for a role in ‘Utharayanam,”’ he recalls.
But he didn’t get any offers to act after that, so he produced a film himself, ‘Padasaram,’ in which he was, predictably, the hero. It flopped at the box office, but the next two films he produced, ‘Chora Chuvanna Chora’ and ‘Chakara,’ did better. “My role as a villain in ‘Chakara’ was noticed,” he recalls.
Among those who noticed him was director Bharathan. He cast Ravi in the role of Rappai in ‘Parankimala.’ The villain who spoke in the Thrissur dialect proved to be the turning point in his career. “I was the first actor to popularise the Thrissur accent in cinema. There was no looking back after ‘Parankimala’, as Ravi starred in many hits, including ‘Ee Nadu,’ ‘Iniyenkilum,’ ‘Pathamudayam,’ ‘1921,’ ‘NH 47’ and ‘Pavam Krooran.’
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