A breakout role shouldn’t be straightforward to come back by in movies, and Renjit Shekar is aware of it. Therefore the success of the second season of the online collection, Kerala Crime Files, means the world to the 36-year-old actor. In the collection he performs civil police officer (CPO) police officer Praveen Chandran, who’s a part of a crew investigating a lacking fellow police officer and an ex-convict.
Renjit says that is the primary time that he bought so many calls appreciating his work since he had his debut with Ottamurivelicham in 2017. “It has been the most noticed role of my career till now and it means a lot.”
The actor provides that the celebration of the success of the collection held lately was a momentous event, particularly with the presence of filmmaker Premkumar. “He enjoyed the series so much that he had called our director [Ahammed Khabeer]. Screening the show in Tamil Nadu, perhaps a first for a Malayalam web series, was equally exciting.”
Actor Renjit Shekar
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He is one amongst a number of engineer-turned-actors in Malayalam cinema. The Thiruvananthapuram-native, who labored with corporations reminiscent of NeST and Infosys, says he has been a movie buff since his pupil days and used to shoot visuals on his handycam whereas pursuing his engineering. “I wanted to get into movies but had no clue how to go about it. There weren’t many auditions happening back then.”
The turning level was assembly Rahul Riji Nair, his colleague at NesT. “We had the same dreams. That eventually led to him directing Ottamurivelicham that bagged four Kerala State film awards.”
Renjit went on act in Rahul’s Dakini and Kho-Kho. “The role in Kho-Kho (as the affable peon Sivaprasad) got me some attention, followed by my character in Geethu Unchained, one of the stories in the anthology, Freedom Fight. A scene in the latter, the one where Rajisha Vijayan swears at me, even became fodder for memes!”
Rahul additionally forged him because the villain in Keedam, starring Rajisha. “That was a challenging role. Many people told me that they did not recognise me in that character.”
Cop act
Renjit says it’s sheer coincidence that he bought three cop roles again to again — Thalavan, KCF and Flask. “The characters are totally different from each other. The cop in Thalavan is the boy-next-door who admires Asif Ali’s character, KCF’s Praveen is efficient but blunt and the character in Flask is wily and sly.”
Renjit stresses the OTT revolution has helped his profession in a massive manner. “Thanks to these platforms, people from other languages have seen my work. I once got a call from Lokesh Kanagaraj’s assistant. He saw Kho-Kho on OTT and wanted to talk about it. It feels great when our films cross borders. Now I have friends and acquaintance in other film industries as well.”
He provides net collection offers an actor extra scope to carry out. “I can add more layers to a character, which is not possible in films. In KCF there is a scene where I chat with my screen father. Actually that part does not contribute to the storyline at all. When I asked AK (director Ahammed Kabeer) about it, he said the scene would help to register my character a little more. He was right because those who called me mentioned that scene.”
KCF is Renjit’s fifteenth challenge and he admits that one has to at all times be raring to go to reach cinema. “There are instances when you lose hope. This field is like that. I need the industry but the industry does not need me. So I should always be ready for the race. Rejection is part of the game. Putting in the hard work is important.”
Renjit Shekar with Rajisha Vijayan in Kho-Kho
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Renjit admits he’s hesitant to advertise himself and would moderately let his work discuss for him. “I tell people to watch my work and then call me for audition. I am comfortable that way. I don’t mind asking for a role in films. That is my job and I don’t feel shy about it. However, I am not that keen on promoting myself on social media or other platforms.”
Looking forward, Renjit is thrilled about his subsequent challenge, which is with the director-writer combo of Dinjith Ayyathan-Bahul Ramesh who made Kishkindha Kaandam, one of many acclaimed films of 2024. “Bahul is the writer of KCF and it was he who called me for the film. I am not allowed to say anything about the movie. But I am excited about it.”
Kerala Crime Files Season 2 is streaming on JioHotstar.
