It’s not every day that you see an actor featuring in three high-profile films—Kasargold, Kannur Squad and Chaaver—that managed to get released in three consecutive weeks. Deepak Parambol is aware that his screentime in these films is less but, as an actor who made his debut a decade ago in Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Malarvadi Arts Club and experienced his share of work-related angst, he finds these opportunities in bigger star-driven vehicles valuable.
At least, at no point do we feel that Deepak’s characters don’t have anything to contribute to these films’ principal events, irrespective of screen time.
The call to act in Chaaver and Kasargold came to Deepak simultaneously. Since his shoot days in the former were less, he was able to find time for the latter, following which he moved on to Kannur Squad. “All three roles reached me unexpectedly at the same time,” recalls the Kannur native.
“It helps that these films were being discussed in one way or another, and since they released in theatres within a week of each other, you have a better chance of getting noticed more. I find that this sometimes gets reflected on your social media accounts. For instance, when a picture is posted on Facebook, and someone comments that they have seen a previous film of yours, that offers some relief because you realise that your efforts weren’t in vain, regardless of that film’s overall response, be it positive or negative. It keeps one going.”
Deepak’s new release is director Sreejith Chandran’s Imbam, in which he shares the screen with veterans Lalu Alex and Meera Vasudevan. The film, expected to release this Friday, has Deepak playing a cartoonist who crosses paths with, and bonds with, the debt-ridden, middle-aged owner (Lalu Alex) of a publishing house.
Speaking about the film’s core subject, Deepak calls it a “small, simple film” shot during the Covid second wave. “The story takes place in Kozhikode, and among the things it discusses are the slowly dwindling reading habits, interest in magazines and books, and political interference in certain creative forms of expression. I play a final-year student cartoonist looking for a space to express his ideas, and who meets this man in connection to an issue. It also addresses the generational divide, differences between old and new values, and all that.”
The actor also has appearances in Jan-e-Man director Chidambaram’s Manjummel Boys and Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Varshangalkku Shesham—two highly anticipated releases that Deepak is eagerly looking forward to.
On Manjummel Boys, featuring Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Balu Varghese, Ganapathi, Lal Jr, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Arun Kurian, Khalid Rahman, Chandu Salimkumar and Vishnu Raghu, Deepak shares he has “high hopes” for his character and the film as a whole.
“Manjummel Boys is a relatively big-scale film with a big cast and budget. Though the subject gets into a serious space, it’s not devoid of fun elements, which Chidambaram has proved himself to be good at in Jan-e-Man. I was very impressed with that film because it’s one of those rare films for which we can imagine multiple conclusions, but they ended it the right way. Jan-e-Man’s success enabled him to do a relatively bigger, more expensive project like Manjummel Boys, an outcome of proper planning and heavy pre-production work. When I went to discuss the film before shooting began, they had already sketched and outlined everything they were planning to do, with storyboards and all. And then they managed to execute those ideas really well.”