Hcurly mop of hair and mischievous smile give him a boyish charm. He may not be a stereotypical ‘hero’ material but Neeraj Madhav did surely charm his way to Malayali minds.
The young boy who once dreamt of wielding the megaphone and did a course in the same at School of Drama and Fine Arts at Thrissur, stumbled upon ‘acting’ by chance and post ‘Drishyam’, Neeraj is a busy man. His impeccable comic timing, naive body language and ability to blend in has catapulted him to the ‘promising actors’ league’.
Neeraj says the acting bug bit him during the auditions of ‘Buddy’. “Since I was a dancer, I loved to perform. So when I grabbed the role in ‘Buddy’, I thought why not get serious about acting. But, it was ‘Drishyam’ that turned the game changer. The movie was my big break. It gave me an identity while ‘Sapthamashri Thaskara ha’ and ‘Homely Meals’ gave me space as an actor,” says Neeraj.
Neeraj owes all his success to director Jeethu Joseph. “Though I did a small role in ‘Memories’, the confidence I gained working with such a great crew is immense. It was on the sets of ‘Memories’ that Jeethu Joseph told me about ‘Drishyam’. And, I was all nerves thinking about sharing space with Mohanlal,” says Neeraj. He adds that ‘Drishyam’ was an unforgettable experience for him. “I was in awe of Lalettan. When I introduced myself, he said he knew me already and I was floored. He made me comfortable throughout the project and this chemistry helped our scenes together,” says Neeraj.
‘Drishyam’ announced the arrival of the actor Neeraj who soon followed it up with ‘1983’, ‘Sapthamashri Thaskara ha’ and ‘Homely Meals’.
Fresh from playing Narayanankutty, one of the title characters in Anil Radhakrishna Menon’s ‘Saptamashri Thaskara ha’, Neeraj says the entire experience was a huge ‘boost’ to the actor in him. “Anil Radhakrishna Menon is someone I consider close to me. Though I had shared screen space with Prithviraj, it was ‘Sapthamshri’ that we really got to work together. People really appreciated me for the role,” says Neeraj who walked away with accolades being the humour element in the movie.
Neeraj says though he doesn’t mind playing the comic part, he did also want to explore the serious actor side in him. “That’s why I grabbed the role in ‘Appothecary’. I played Jaysurya’s brother in the movie. I opted the movie because I really wanted to widen my horizons as an actor,” says Neeraj.
While he admits to be choosy, he says that’s because he want to play diverse characters. “Any actor would want to try out diverse characters. I’m no different. So far, my journey has been great. I wish to follow it up with similar characters,” says Neeraj.
The 24-year-old is now doing the directorial debut of James Albert, ‘Mariam Mukku’ where he will share screen space with Fahadh Fazil.
“I will also do a part in Prajith Karanaver’s yet-to-be named movie starring Vineeth Sreenivasan, Aju Varghese and Nivin Pauly,” says Neeraj.