Dulquer Salmaan: Kurup has a certain flair but we have tried to keep his character in line with the truth

The Malayalam star, who will be playing Sukumara Kurup in the Srinath Rajendran directorial, addressed whether the film glorifies the infamous fugitive accused of murder in 1984

Dulquer Salmaan in a still from Kurup

The story of Sukumara Kurup – who is accused of murdering Chacko in 1984 to fake his own death to claim insurance money – is almost urban legend for Malayalis. Dulquer Salmaan, who will be portraying the infamous fugitive, recently addressed whether his upcoming theatrical release Kurup glorifies the character.

“We have tried to do justice to the character and so, I believe the film has projected his true image,” said Dulquer, talking to the media in Kochi on Saturday. “But it will have some style; in my opinion, if you look at any conman, they sort of have that flair. From the research we have done about Kurup, we have found him to be such an individual. It might appear heroic to some but hopefully that might change when you watch the movie.”

When he was further prodded if the movie glorified the character, the actor said, “Our priority was not to do that. We had edited it multiple times and made sure that was the focus. Of course, it’s a big-budget movie and it has to entertain people as well, so that’s how we are presenting it.”

Last year, after the team released a sneak peek of the movie, Chacko’s son Jithin had raised a complaint, stating that the makers were trying to glorify Sukumara Kurup through the film. The team has now shown the movie to the family, who are satisfied with how the events and the characters are represented.

“Even before the shoot, we had gotten in touch with the family and informed them. After that, we screened the film for them and took their approval before progressing,” said Dulquer. “When you go in depth, you get to hear a lot of stories and Kurup is almost like a biopic, because we have mined so many details to show the various phases in his life. It is a good mix of truth and fiction. We haven’t even used the exact names; we have taken a bit of cinematic licence.”

On playing the character, the actor, who has produced the film, said, “The movie spans from the late 60s to the 80s, and the character appears in various get-ups. It was an interesting experience for me to pull off those looks belonging to various time periods. I had to grow out my hair for the part and also decide not to pick other projects. I believe all that effort will be there in the movie.”

Kurup, which marks the second collaboration between Srinath and Dulquer after their debut venture Second Show, also has a stellar cast including Sobhita Dhulipala, Indrajith Sukumaran, Shine Tom Chacko, Shivajith Padmanabhan and Sunny Wayne. The movie will hit theatres across the world on November 12, with it being screened in a record 450 theatres in Kerala itself.

Also read: Ahead of Kurup release, Dulquer Salmaan opens up on direct OTT releases of Malayalam films

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