Shabeer Kallarakkal: ‘I loved Mufti and was glad to be a part of Bhairathi Ranagal’

Shabeer Kallarakkal, better known as Sarpatta Parambarai’s Dancing Rose, is an accidental actor. His first tryst with cinema came with an uncredited role in 2004’s Aayutha Ezhuthu. “After college, I was doing a bunch of part-time jobs and the company that I was with at the time was providing actual students as junior artistes on the Mani Ratnam directorial. They asked me if I’d also like to be a part of the group and I took it up like any other job. In fact, back then, I hardly ever watched films and had my heart set on becoming a cricketer. I appear in one scene of Aayutha Ezhuthu, somewhere in the background, but a lot of people who knew me noticed and asked me about it and that’s when it hit me that acting is, perhaps something I could look at seriously,” he says.

It wasn’t until a good 10 years later that Shabeer made it to the big screen again. But he began prepping for that eventuality. “Cricket was going nowhere for me, so, sometime in 2007, I started training with a theatre troupe, took up gymnastics, fights, and dance classes – pretty much everything an actor would need. I did plays and attended auditions over the years, and it was only in 2013 that I got my first break with 54321, which, however, released as my second movie. Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe, in which I worked with Sruthi Hariharan, became my debut movie,” Shabeer tells us.

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Although both Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe and 54321 were good movies, the actor tells us that they didn’t do well at the box office and did not help his cause much. That’s when he decided to focus on being a part of big-ticket movies. “The whole point was to ensure that I get noticed. For someone like me, getting a break is a big deal, but to not get any recognition for it did not make sense to me. After 54321, I got a few smaller roles, including in Superstar Rajinikanth’s Petta, but things really turned around for me with 2021’s Sarpatta Parambarai. Ever since I played Dancing Rose, my career trajectory has been on the upswing,” says Shabeer.

The films that the actor has done since then, though, have seen him in antagonist roles, which he is not worried about, even though he began his acting career as a protagonist. “The way I look at it, the antagonist is often someone who is a lot more powerful than the hero. Also, these days things are changing and actors aren’t always typecast as, say, villains or cop characters, etc. In fact, since Sarpatta, there were at least 30 scripts that came to me with lead hero roles, but they had absolutely no meat in them. I did not want to be a part of these films just to be a hero. I’d rather be recognised with roles in big movies across languages and see where it takes me. I am not hung up about playing the protagonist and believe that it will happen when it has to happen,” Shabeer reasons.

Shabeer's role in Bhairathi Ranagal

On November 15, the actor marks his Kannada film debut with Bhairathi Ranagal, in which he’s got yet another villain role. He’s Ghatta, an antagonist who is pitted against Shivarajkumar in the first half of the film – that’s all he will tell us about the role in the Mufti prequel. How aware was he of Kannada cinema and, more importantly, Mufti, before he became a part of the film? “I was aware of Kannada cinema since Lucia, thanks to Sruthi, and I had seen Mufti much before I was offered the role in Bhairathi Ranagal. In fact, I’ve been keen to work in the industry since Lucia, because there is a lot of interesting, content-driven cinema being made here. It was only in 2023 that I finally got the call to debut in Kannada cinema. I loved Mufti and was onboard the minute Narthan said it was a prequel. It’s quite a solid role and to be in a Shivarajkumar film is a privilege. It’s the perfect start to my journey in Kannada cinema,” says Shabeer.

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To ensure there is enough variety in the portfolio, Shabeer continues to dabble with theatre and one of the major activities his troupe undertakes is hospital clowning. “If you've seen the Hollywood film Patch Adams you'll get an idea of what we do. I’ve been doing hospital clowning for 6 years. Twice a week, we visit hospitals in Chennai; I’m very proud of it and still do it as it gives me immense satisfaction. Our target group is mostly kids, which is what excites me. If you don’t get their attention, your act falls flat. Hospital clowning humbles me and tells me that I am blessed with a lot of things. You see children as young as 1 or 2 years of age with cancer, which makes you appreciate what you have,” he says.

Isn’t it heart-wrenching being in the midst of sick kids? “It does hit you quite a bit, especially when you notice that some of them that you saw not long ago, are not there anymore, or when you see that some are in hospital for extensive periods. It is, therefore, imperative that the few minutes that we get with each of them make a difference for them. They may or may not react to what we do; it’s not just about making them laugh. It’s about giving them a sense of control and nothing is done without their permission. The idea is to ensure they are at ease while in hospital,” explains Shabeer.