He knows there is no escape from that. That is, being called the elder brother of actresses Shalini and Shamili (ie, Malayalis’ very own Baby Shalini and Baby Shamili).
Expresso catches up with Richard , now Rishi for the Telugu audience, while on his visit to the city as the brand ambassador of ‘Dream Festival 2010’, a mega one-month-long dance-singing-modelling competition which Thiruvananthapuram will witness in October.
Though he had a forgettable debut (‘Kadhal Virus’, directed by Kadhir and which had music by AR Rahman, was released in 2002 with much expectations, but, "unfortunately didn’t do well"), these days, Richard is on a high, especially because of the success he has reaped in the Telugu film industry.
There is one more reason too- his role in the Tamil movie ‘Pen Singam’ (based on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s novel) which has Meera Jasmine and Uday Kiran in lead roles, has been appreciated.
Interestingly, Richard has a negative role in the movie, the second negative role after his role in the Telugu movie ‘Three’. "I have no fear of being typecast. Somebody has to bell the cat, no?", he asks with a smile, adding, "Telugu industry has been lucky for me. It was the industry which gave me the name Rishi, thanks to my role in the movie `A Film by Aravind’"
Except for brief appearances as a child artist in the Telugu movie `Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari’ and Mani Ratnam’s `Anjali’ (he is one among the dancers in a song sequence) - which happened because he was there on the sets of these movies - Richard never thought of becoming an actor.
"With both my sisters in the industry, I was never brought up to be an actor. But, after finishing my college, I thought of taking up acting. `Kadhal Virus’ happened. After a couple of Tamil movies, in 2006, I went into Telugu. Initially, I was not very happy there, since I was considered as somebody from the neighbourhood. But now, I have become a part of it. Telugu industry is big in many aspects. Now, some good movies are coming out there."
Besides a couple of Telugu movies, Richard is very excited about his upcoming Tamil-Telugu film `Yen Ippadi Mayakkinai’ in which he would be playing a dance master (“who is more into hip-hop style").
Though he has forgotten the little bit of Malayalam he used to speak (his father is from Kollam and Richard has done one Malayalam film ‘Koottu’), he does have some plans for the industry as well. "Actually, some friends are working on a script and hopefully, we will soon come up with something."
Next year, he might take up direction as well, most probably in Tamil or Telugu. It was interesting to hear that Shamili, who recently did a Telugu film as the leading lady, is studying film-making in Singapore.
A very doting brother that he is, Richard says, "They do keep a tab on my work. Though I am elder to them, we three are like friends and have so much fun."