Kalidas Jayaram, son of veteran actors Jayaram and Parvathy, did a couple of films as a child in Malayalam. One of them, Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum (2003) fetched him the prestigious National Award. Awaiting the release of Balaji Tharaneetharan’s Oru Pakka Kathai and Amudeshwar’s Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum in Tamil, the young actor has offers pouring in already. “I’m trying to choose interesting scripts and will live up to the expectations of the audience,” he smiles, and adds that as a star kid, the pressure is real. “I have to perform and prove myself. But I’m not scared...pressure makes me perform better.”
The young actor wanted his first lead role in a Tamil film. “I have a Visual Comm degree from Chennai. Though my parents have done films in Malayalam, I was raised here,” he says. In Oru Pakka Kathai, he plays a college kid. “It’s not a regular rom-com. I had to undergo acting classes from Guru Somasundaram,” he shares.
His other Tamil film Meen Kuzhambum... is a feel-good family entertainer, with Prabhu playing his father. “The film is also special because I got to share the screen with Kamal Haasan!”
Speaking about his experience, he shares, “Kamal plays a fish doctor and appears during the interval and towards the climax. Many felt he accepted the role because of my father but the reason was purely because of Sivaji Productions,” he adds.
All praise for his co-star Ashna Zaveri, Kalidas lauds her efforts. “She used to practice her Tamil dialogues during the night and came prepared the next day. We saved time and completed everything early.”
Interestingly, he’s back to Mollywood in Abrid Shine’s Poomaram. “It’s a story focusing on the emotional side of a student. Many people can relate to the story. But the challenge is that the Malayalam audience still see me as a kid...I need to break that image,” he sighs.
Insisting that he is currently going with the flow, Kalidas says, “I am doing what I want to. I’d love to be a part of different films in terms of narrative styles, genres and scripts. I do not want to do films for the heck of it,” he says.