He was an integral part of the new theatre movement in Malayalam led by stalwarts like G. Midhunam (1993), directed by Priyadarshan. After graduation, he had a brief stint as a journalist and tutor, while being actively involved in theatre workshops and literary events.
Along with his college mate and friend Fazil - who later became a renowned director - he performed in a number of music and mimicry programmes in Kerala and outside. He was equally at ease playing the tragic hero and the crooked villain, the lout and the guileless, the strong and the vulnerable, the majestic and the mundane.Įven from his college days, Nedumudi Venu was active in theatre, deeply interested in music and adept at playing percussion instruments, especially mridangam. Here are some of the most unforgettable roles Nedumudi Venu essayed at the peak of his career: the disillusioned and extremely sensitive young man who silently leaves the village with the circus troupe in his debut film, Thampu, the wild and carefree hunter Maruthu who roams the forest and the village in Aravam, the crafty carpenter Chellappanasari who prods gullible Thakara to sexual adventures in Thakara, the gawky student-priest, who is mocked by all and caught in the tragic web of infatuation and passion of others in Chamaram, the shrewd village tailor who tailors other peoples’ lives and desires in Oridathoru Phayalvan, the feisty village thief who stumbles upon a treasure and is brought down by his lechery in Kallan Pavithran, the rustic villager who comes to the city and becomes a toy in the hands of a writer and his wife in Rachana, the stenographer in the city who brings life and joy to the lives of others in the face of death in Vida Parayum Munpe, the grumpy all-in-all in a village tea shop whose rustic love wins over that of the sophisticated and educated outsider in Appunni, the ‘scheming’ panchayat member adept in forging devious designs in Panchavadi Palam, the simpleton Nambudiri who drowns himself in drinks in Theertham, the lusty Travancorean overseer who comes to a remote village to establish an electric connection in Oridathu, the majestic lyricist at the royal court in Swati Thirunal, the imperious Rajaguru from mythology who propitiates the rain god through divine and other means in Vaishali, the aging and childless school teacher doting on the girl who enters his arid marital life in Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam, the randy police inspector who is caught between sexual and paternal instincts at the brothel in Rugmini etc.Īll these roles he played in the first decade of his career between 19 stand testimony to his immense versatility and acting talents: they range from the rustic to the sophisticated, the mythic to the profane, the innocent to the devilish, the lyrical to the tragic, the romantic to the lecherous. A great performer who played diverse roles in films, Nedumudi Venu’s acting persona transcends any kind of branding or slotting into any single category, and was marked by its fluidity and flexibility, one that always mixed and mutated through time and roles. In a career spanning more than four decades, he acted in over 500 films including a few in Tamil and Hindi, played an important role in theatre movement in Kerala as an actor, directed and acted in television serials, and anchored, among many, one of the landmark science programmes in Malayalam. With the unexpected departure of Nedumudi Venu, Indian cinema has lost a unique and versatile actor who combined in his art the best of theatre traditions, the energy of folk performances and modernist literary sensibility.
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