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I was never a star. I have always been an actor.

Photo: S. Gopakumar

Actor par excellence: In his heyday, Bharat Gopy immortalised each of the characters he enacted on the big screen and the stage.

‘Dey Engottu Nokanne,’ a film by Balachandran Menon, will see thespian Bharat Gopy donning a major role. “The shoot will begin in December. Menon and I go a long way back. I have acted in many of his films (‘Oru Painkilikatha,’ ‘April 18,’ ‘Ente Ammu, Ningalude Thulasi, Avarudde Chakki’ and ‘Samantharangal’). He is one of the few directors who ensures that his actors are paid the amount they have been promised,” says Gopy.

‘Nazrani,’ ‘Naivedyam’ and ‘Rasathantram’ were some of the films in recent years that had Gopy donning important character roles. A far cry from the days when this talented actor strode colossus-like in the world of Malayalam cinema.

In the Late Seventies and Eighties Bharat Gopy was the face of New Wave cinema in Malayalam. Each of his roles was a text book for actors as he effortlessly breathed life into immortal characters and redefined the term actor. Even at the peak of his career, Gopy never confined himself to the role of the hero. His characters covered all the shades of white and black and viewers could never guess the nature of any of his characters until the last scene of a film. Gopy made the screen his playground for almost 15 years until a fateful stroke on February 20, 1986 left him partially paralysed.

Gopy prefers to divide his career and life into two parts – before and after the stroke.

‘Before the stroke, I had acted in 85 films and refused to act in 250 films,” says Gopy who emphasises that he prefers being called an actor to a star.

“I was never a star. I have always been an actor. The first superstar in Malayalam cinema was Prem Nazir but he was always called an actor. But in my heyday cinema was not a business. It was an artistic expression that tried to reach out to viewers,” says Gopy who avers firmly that he has no patience for abstract film-making which tries to claim a space as ‘high brow art.’ “I am a cultural activist or a worker,” he adds.

And his definition of cinema? “Cinema should touch the minds of people, make them silent and think. It should linger in the mind weeks and months after a person watches a film. It should make the viewer analyse, study and discuss the film. That is art cinema.” As examples he cites ‘Bicycle Thieves’ and ‘Rashomon.’

“It is the subject that motivates me to do a film. Then it is the director. He has to be an able person who can do justice to the subject. My character has always been the last priority,” says Gopy who won the National award for the best actor (‘Kodiyettam’) and five State awards. His book ‘Abhinayam Anubhavam’ won the National award for the best book on cinema. Gopy has his own take on what acting is all about.

He calls it his “own school of acting” wherein an “actor visualises a role and then enters the character instead of the character entering the actor.” “Nowadays, people say that they imbibe the character. If one does that, then all the characters that an actor enacts will look alike. That is why I was able to don the role of Shankarankutty (‘Kodiyettam’) in my first film and then act the villain in my next film, ‘Thampu”’ feels Gopy.

“Each of my roles has been unique because I saw to it that I was never typecast. When I was acting in ‘Aghat,’ a reporter told me that I could look forward to a good career in Hindi films if I could do roles similar to the one I did in Govind Nihalani’s film. I told him that not even one crore would make me do similar roles,” he recalls.

However, he hastens to add: “That was before I fell ill. Today, I do almost all kinds of roles because I need the cash. My comeback film after my illness was ‘Patheyam,’ which was produced by me and directed by Bharatham. The shot that was taken was of a drunk and ill man arriving in a car. It was the first moment of acting in my second life as an actor,” he says.

Looking back, he says he that the rapport he shared with director Bharathan was something special. “He was a musician, poet, painter, sculptor, poet and writer. His film imbibed all those qualities and had a lyrical touch to it. Bharathan wanted each person on the set to be involved in the film. He would look for my opinion on shots, story and so on. We were on the same wavelength,” he recounts.

Gopy says he would like to direct a film. But on his own terms. “I have the subject and the script. It will be a straight narrative. But where are the producers with the conviction? All I need is one crore,” he says.

Gopy is optimistically looking forward to the release of K.P. Kumaran’s ‘Akashagopuram,’ an adaptation of Ibsen’s ‘Master Builder.’ “It has a terrific script by Kumaran himself. I play Abraham, the master builder whose place is usurped by his assistant. The film is almost over but I have no idea why its release is being delayed.”

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