Renaissance Man: The Reinvention Of Kunchacko Boban

25 years into his career, Kunchacko Boban is far from done when it comes to honing his craft.

Neelima Menon

Dec 06, 2022

Kunchacko Boban. Image via Facebook/@KunchackoBoban

This column was originally published on 5 December 2022, as part of our newsletter The Daily Show. Subscribe here. (We're awesome about not spamming your inbox!)

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IN NNA THAAN CASE KODU (dir. Ratheesh Balakrishna Poduval), Kunchacko Boban plays a reformed thief named Rajeevan, defending himself against a fresh charge in court. The only misstep in an otherwise convincing portrayal is the choice of false protruding teeth and light brown makeup: the look does little beyond catering to a stereotype and dehumanising a certain community. Apart from this, the film and character offer yet another chance for Kunchacko to showcase a hitherto unseen side of the actor in him.

There’s that impromptu jig in the midst of a crowd, in which Kunchacko mesmerises with his fluidity and grace even as a long-forgotten once-iconic song is brought back from obscurity. Or the beautiful song montage that frames his silent romance with a Tamilian girl. Or how he depicts Rajeevan’s emotional shifts in court as the proceedings oscillate between uncertainty and hope.

A ROMANTIC START

When the average age of a Malayalam film hero was 45 and narratives were gradually defaulting towards alpha male protagonists, no one bargained for a Sudhi in Fazil’s romance, Aniyathipraavu (1997). As Sudhi gazed deeply into the eyes of a shy Mini (Shalini), handed her the novel she was searching for, and walked away, with the strings of a pulsing romantic melody wafting in the backdrop, teenage girls in the audience let out a collective sigh. Kunchacko Boban had easily slipped into the romantic hero’s spot, vacant for a long time in Malayalam cinema.

The rare sighting of a romantic hero also signaled a pattern of films that had Kunchacko replaying updated versions of Sudhi. If in Nakshatratharattu (1998) he was a fashion photographer who falls in love with a model, Mayilpeelikkavu (released that same year) was a romance with a reincarnation angle. In Mazhavillu (1999), he played a doting spouse who is murdered by his wife’s obsessed admirer; in Prem Poojari (also 1999) — an interfaith romance story — Kunchacko essayed an aspiring singer. However, it was with love triangle Niram (another 1999 release) that the actor reached the zenith of his romantic hero image. Kunchacko was cast as a college student who nurses an unprofessed love for his childhood companion, even as a friend in the present pines for him. The film — schmaltzy, but reflecting the parlance of the college crowd then — made the film a commercial success. By then, Kunchacko had very clearly reached a stagnant phase in his career.

The early 2000s saw Kunchacko appear in several middling films (Swapnakoodu, Dost, Sathyan Shivam Sundaram, Snehithan, Mullavalliyum Thenmavum) that neither helped him shrug off his romantic hero typecasting nor facilitated a divergent career path. Malayalam cinema itself was going through a rough patch at the time, with filmmakers and writers clueless and out-of-depth, falling back on formulaic subjects and characters. Kunchacko did show glimpses of his finesse in films like Kasthooriman (2003), in which he played an IAS aspirant from a once-affluent family now burdened with debt, and Ee Snehatheerathu (2004) that saw him as an idealist railing against the system, and deeply protective of his mother.

HIATUS AND RETURN

Maybe it was this string of awful, uninspiring films that prompted Kunchacko to take a break from cinema. “It was a gradual process of learning and unlearning. Even the period when I took a break helped… Even the bad films helped me learn,” the actor once told this writer during an interview.

The first breakthrough came in 2009, when Kunchacko played reluctant conman Ravi in VK Prakash’s comic heist drama, Gulumaal (2009). For most of the film, Jerry (a superb Jayasurya) is egging Ravi on to be part of his devious cons, and Ravi seems to be rather pliable — until the final reveal. Even though Jayasurya’s Jerry gets the smartest lines and scenes, Kunchacko pleasantly complements that energy.

NEW WAVE

Rajesh Pillai’s Traffic (2011), considered one of the forerunners of Malayalam cinema’s New Wave, also brought back Kunchacko Boban from the labyrinths of conformity as an actor. It opened an avant-garde avenue of cinema that had narratives, themes, execution and characters that pushed the envelope. There was space to accommodate the stories of ordinary people leading ordinary lives, flawed men and multidimensional women. In Traffic Kunchacko’s Dr Abel Thariyan runs his wife over with a car in a jealous rage after discovering her infidelity. The most uphill task for an actor pigeonholed into the romantic hero image (similar to comedians) was always to break it; Kunchacko can credit the industry’s newer tribe of filmmakers and writers for helping him do so.

Between 2012 and 2019, while he has had both lean and reasonably good patches (Bhaiyya Bhaiyya, Jamna Pyari, Rajamma @ Yahoo, Shajahanum Pareekuttiyum) that had him successfully wrestle with comedy (Romans, Ordinary, Mallu Singh), Kunchacko seems to truly thrive when dabbling in shades of grey.

Kunchacko was a revelation as Rajeev Narayanan — a radio jockey who is an emotionally abusive spouse — in Manju Warrier’s How Old Are You? (2014). The actor makes light work of it — those gently-delivered jibes, barely hidden contempt, and disrespect towards his partner that would be considered red flags in any relationship.

Amid these turns, there was a spell when social media found a rich vein of meme material in the mind-boggling titles of his movies, which often translated into mediocre fare. Then, he would surprise viewers with a return to form, such as when he played the sweet, gentle widower Ram who falls in love with a married woman in Ramante Eden Thottam (2017). The actor imbues the soft-spoken empathetic persona of Ram with such charm, warmth and maturity that you think this is what Kunchacko’s real self is like as well. “[Ram] is very close to my basic character, and therefore I was quite comfortable playing him,” Kunchacko has said..

The same year, he played a kind-hearted nurse who pines for his divorced colleague in Take Off then did a volte-face as a wily, womanising thief in the very underrated Varnyathil Aashanka. The actor was slowly and steadily blurring the boundaries that had been stubbornly drawn for him over the years in Malayalam cinema.

“I enjoyed my stardom, now I want to be known as an actor. It’s a never-ending evolution, keeping yourself updated, and trying out different methods of acting. The plan is to give more than what is expected of you,” he said.

2019 TO THE PRESENT

The period from 2019 onwards has witnessed the rise and rise of Kunchacko Boban. As the cantankerous police driver Ramendran (in Allu Ramendran) who is frustrated by the daily puncturing of his jeep tyre, Kunchacko delivers one of his most underrated performances. He disappears into the skin of Ramendran as he transmits the anger and frustration of tracking down the miscreant planting nails on the road; you have half a mind to help Ramendran in his hunt, such is Kunchacko’s portrayal. It’s the lack of vanity that is most pleasing to watch.

In a way, he repeated this impetuousness in Martin Prakkat’s Nayattu a role Kunchacko apparently actively sought out. Though the brown makeup on his CPO Praveen Micheal is jarring, Kunchacko still makes the character look very lived-in, especially in terms of depicting the inner chaos of the hunter becoming the hunted.

Other roles Kunchacko has been pitch perfect in:

As Dr Suresh Rajan, who diagnoses the Nipah strain in Aashiq Abu’s medical thriller Virus. Kunchacko invests the character with a subtle heroism and holds his place in a narrative filled with some of Malayalam cinema’s finest actors.

As consulting criminologist Dr Anwar Hussain in the crime thriller Anjaam Pathiraa. With Kunchacko there is an intrinsic compassion that manifests well when he plays such roles.

As Sanju in Bheemante Vazhi — whose relationships with women are at best casual flings. The character’s promiscuousness seems more like a painful stab at shock value than serving any narrative heft, but the actor still makes you buy into it.

As Ramesh in Pada; Kunchacko plays one among a group of activists who take a collector hostage.

And as he completes 25 years in the industry, with Nna Than Case Kodu grossing Rs 50 crores; his Mahesh Narayanan film — Ariyippu — competing at the Locarno Film Festival; and a revival for his family’s legendary production house Udaya Studios, it’s evident that when it comes to honing his craft, Kunchacko Boban is far from done.