Noted composer Gireesh Puthenchery’s son Jithin Puthenchery has been trying to carve out his own space in the Malayalam film industry for a while. The Kozhikode native started off as an assistant director, working on such films as Breaking News, Money Rathnam, Rock On 2 and Tharangam. But lately he has been leaning more towards acting.
Jithin managed to land his first major acting gig after writer-director Shankar Ramakrishnan organised an acting camp to select actors for his directorial debut, Pathinettam Padi. In the film, Jithin played a high-school student partaking in the furious tussle between two rival schools. Before Pathinettam Padi, Jithin had appeared in the short film, Mrithunjayam, directed by Dominic Arun (Tharangam).
“I’ve been fascinated with acting right from an early age. But later I began as an assistant director in the hope of not only getting a foothold in the industry but also an understanding of the filmmaking process,” says Jithin, who has worked briefly at Farhan Akthar’s Excel Entertainment. Jithin reveals that he will be making appearances in the Tovino Thomas-starrer Edakkad Battalion 06, director Kamal’s Pranayameenukalude Kadal, and Priyadarshan’s Marakkar.