Suresh Gopi
| Suresh Gopi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Suresh Gopinathan 26 June 1959 Kollam, Kerala, India |
| Residence | Trivandrum, Kerala |
| Other names | Suresh |
| Occupation | Film actor, playback singer, television host[1] |
| Years active | 1965 – present |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Spouse(s) | Radhika |
| Children | Lekshmi (deceased), Gokul, Bhagya, Bhavna, and Madhav |
| Parents |
K. Gopinatha Pillai, V. Gyanalaxmi[2] |
Suresh Gopinathan (born 26 June 1959),[3] commonly known as Suresh Gopi, is an Indian film actor who has starred in more than 190 Malayalam films.
He is famous for his roles in police dramas and family action-dramas, with films such as Ekalavyan (1993), Commissioner (1994), Lelam (1997), and Pathram (1999). He is noted for his leading roles as much as his character roles. The role of Kannan Perumalayan in Kaliyattam (1997) won him the National Film Award for Best Actor. He is also famous for his philanthropic efforts. In 2012, he became the host of the Asianet game show Ningalkkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran.[4]
Personal life
Suresh Gopi was born in Kollam into a Hindu Nair family to Gnanalekshmi Amma and Gopinathan Pillai, as the eldest son.[5]
Career
Child artist (1965)
Suresh Gopi first appeared onscreen as a child in K. S. Sethumadhavan's Odeyil Ninnu (1965). It was a popular film that had Sathyan in the lead role along with Prem Nazir.
(1986–1991)
He returned to acting in the mid-80s with Sathyan Anthikkad's T.P. Balagopalan M.A. (1986), where he played a prospective groom in a small scene. He went on to play supporting and villain roles. Some other roles of his include Balan in Nandi Veendum Varika (1986), Kumar in Rajavinte Makan (1986), Vinod in January Oru Orma (1987), Shekaran Kutty in Irupatham Noottandu (1987), Suresh in New Delhi (1987), Harry in Oru CBI Diary Kurippu (1988), Unni in 1921 (1988), and Aromal Chekavar in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (1989). He played the comic role of Inspector "Minnal" Prathapan in Manu Uncle (1988) and of Dr. Narendran in Padmarajan's Innale (1989).
He played Sethumadhavan in Siddique-Lal's blockbuster In Harihar Nagar (1990). Another role was of Christopher Luke in Viji Thampi's Nagarangalil Chennu Raparkam (1990). The film that helped him get noticed as a serious police officer was the satirical comedy Aanaval Mothiram (1990), where he played Sub-Inspector Nandakumar and co-starred with Sreenivasan.
(1992–1999)
The films that made Suresh Gopi a bankable lead actor were Thalastaanam (1992), Ekalavyan (1993), Mafia (1993) and Commissioner (1994), all by Shaji Kailas and scripted by Ranji Panicker. All of them were police dramas and had, more or less, similar themes. He became immensely popular with his role as Bharathchandran IPS in the block-buster movie Commissioner. Renji Panicker's dialogues employed by Suresh Gopi in English became quite popular with the masses.
During this period, most of his films were dubbed and simultaneously released in Telugu, which made him a sensation in Andhra Pradesh.
During the early to mid 90s, he also played characters of substance in films such as Jayaraj's Paithrukam (1993), Fazil's Manichithrathazhu which was a blockbuster hit, Sathyan Anthikkad's Samooham (1993) and Sibi Malayil's Sindoora Rekha (1995).
The success of his cop roles led to more films of such nature, where he either played police officers or other tough characters in films such as City Police, The City, Rudraksham (1994), Kashmeeram (1994), and Mahatma (1996), with most of them failing to get noticed.
In 1997, with Jayaraj's Kaliyattam (1997), an adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello, Suresh Gopi won the National Film Award for Best Actor for playing Kannan Perumalayan. He proved he was more than just another mainstream actor. This was a turning point in his career.After the huge success of Kaliyattam he had a golden age of his acting career.
In the late 90s, Suresh Gopi was noted for playing in Joshi's films such as Lelam (1998), Vazhunnor (1999) and Pathram (1999), again the former and the latter, scripted by Ranji Panicker. He played Nasrani characters Chackochi and Kuttappai in Lelam and Vazhunnor respectively, as these two films became blockbuster successes in box office. Another notable role was that of journalist Nandagopal in Pathram where he co-starred with Manju Warrier. Suresh Gopi, Jayaram, and Manju Warrier teamed up in Sibi Malayil's Summer in Bethlahem (1998).
(2000–2009)
He started off 2000 with Millennium Stars directed by Jayaraj. The movie was a colossal flop and severely affected the careers of all the stars involved. But he had a success later the same year in Thenkasipattanam. After 2000, when his films were doing fairly well, he decided to stop acting in movies depicting violence, a decision he would later regret. It was also rumoured that he was giving up his acting career for pursuing a political career. He acted in off-beat movies and accepted only soft roles from 2001 to 2005. With his movies failing to make an impact, he had just one release each in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he decided to return to action movies. Ranji Panicker, scriptwriter of his most successful movie, Commissioner, directed the sequel Bharathchandran I.P.S. portraying him as the police commissioner. This was followed by a number of movies in the same genre, in which he played the typical police officer or detective. Some of them were successful, like The Tiger, Chinthamani Kolacase directed by Shaji Kailas, Nadiya Kollappetta Rathri directed by K. Madhu and Detective. All the others, such as Time, Aayudham, Thavalam, Rashtram, Pathaka, Bullet and Smart City, were flops. In between he attempted to do a different role with negative shades in Lanka which, flopped at the box office and ignited a controversy for an unaesthetic kissing scene with his female co-star, Mamta Mohandas. In 2006 he reunited with his favourite director Shaji Kailas for the movie Time, which had huge expectations but bombed at the box office. It was dubbed into Telugu as Police Ante Veedera and Hindi as On Duty, but failed to fetch better results.
Before coming to the film world, he had displayed great interest in the field of literature; his favourite authors are Bernard Shaw and Shakespeare. He is famous for his philanthropic efforts.
In 2008 Suresh Gopi appeared in multi-starrer Twenty: 20 produced by AMMA. Again, he acted with Mohanlal in Pakal Nakshatrangal, an off-beat movie directed by Rajiv Nath.
(2010 – present)
In 2010 he appeared with Mohanlal, Dileep and Sarath Kumar for another multi-starrer Christian Brothers.
In 2011 Suresh Gopi acted in the critically lauded film Melvilasom.
In 2012 he acted in The King & the Commissioner with Mammootty .The movie received mixed reviews from the critics. Suresh Gopi is also the anchor of Asianet's Ningalkkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran program, which is the Malayalam edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?[6] and Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Awards
- Best Actor – 1998 – Kaliyattam
Kerala State Film Awards:
- Best Actor – 1998 – Kaliyattam
Film Critics Awards:
- Film Critics Best Actor Award (three times)
- Best Supporting Actor Award (four times)
- In July 2005, he was considered for the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a mentally distressed person in Ullam and as a doctor in Makalkku, but lost out
Filmography
See also
- Cinema of Kerala
References
- ↑ . bharatsureshgopi.com. Retrieved on 10 April 2013.
- ↑ CiniDiary. CiniDiary. Retrieved on 10 April 2013.
- ↑ Kerala's Favourite Film Actor: Suresh Gopi – Part 1. YouTube (10 June 2011). Retrieved on 10 April 2013.
- ↑ Suresh Gopi's Ningalkkum Akam Kodeeswaran receives rave reviews | News – Oneindia Entertainment. Entertainment.oneindia.in (18 May 2012). Retrieved on 10 April 2013.
- ↑ Rediff On The NeT, Movies: Never say never again. In.rediff.com. Retrieved on 10 April 2013.
- ↑ Ningalkkum Akam Kodeeswaran Starting on 9th April 2012 | Malayalam Television Channels. Keralatv.in (26 March 2012). Retrieved on 10 April 2013.