Kunchakko.KUNCHAKKO the film actor of Molywood,Kerala

Kunchacko Boban –the Lover Boy
Kunchacko Boban, more popular as Chackochan, turned the heartthrob of teenagers with his first film, the Fazil-directed Aniyaththipraavu, a trendsetter of sorts. And since then, Chackochan has managed to retain his position in filmdom. This 'lover boy' of Malayalam Cinema, who has starred in many love-stories on celluloid, including Nakshatrathaaraattu, Niram, Priyam, Chandamama, Prem Pujari, Ingane Oru Nilaapakshi, Mazhavillu, Mayilpeelikaavu, Satyam Sivam Sundaram, Kalyaanaraaman etc, has also rendered on screen some serious characters like that in Satyan Anthicaud's Narendran Makan Jayakaanthan Vaka, the recently released Lohitadas-directed Kasthooriman and the yet-to-be-released Saamam, directed by Sivaprasad. Excerpts from his interview.

How was it, doing the film Kasthooriman?
It was a very different kind of experience for me. What attracted me to the film was that it was a Lohitadas film. Script and direction by Lohitadas itself guarantees a certain amount of depth as far as the character is concerned. Lohitadas is a director who can make an actor perform to his best. The film also featured songs composed by Ouseppachchan. Ouseppachchan, who had composed the songs for my debut film Aniyaththipraavu, is a lucky composer for me. The character of Saajan Jose that I did in the film to was different from my other characters.

Please tell us your experiences doing Satyan Anthicaud's Narendran Makan Jayakaanthan Vaka .
Doing Narendran Makan Jayakaanthan Vaka was a relief to me, and I had to take it as a challenge. And when I did the film, the feedback was indeed encouraging.

Do you feel that you could do full justice to the role you played in Narendran Makan Jayakaanthan Vaka?
Sure. I do feel that I could rise up to the director's expectations. The director Satyan Anthicaud asked me not to act, but just to behave as the character. I did exactly what he told, all in a relaxed manner. And that relaxed feel contributed to the successful portrayal of the character.

Name some of the films that have given you most satisfaction?
All of my characters seem to have given me equal satisfaction. Anyhow there is one character that

depressed me a lot, the character that I did in Satyam Shivam Sundaram. The character was brilliantly etched out and I had taken much pains to do it. But somehow it was not well received. And that disappointed me a lot. On the other hand, films like Niram, Priyam and Aniyaththipraavu brought deserving returns. Anyway, I would like to say that I look forward to the totality of the film and not just perfection in my performance. There are anyhow some points that I'd like to stress on. Firstly, if I do a humorous kind of role and it comes off well, then I would be very much satisfied. I realized it during Chandamama. And secondly, whenever the emotional element is amiss in my film, it turns out to be a flop. So, the emotional element is most important in my films

Lots of young newcomers are coming into Malayalam Cinema at present. Please comment.
It's a very welcome trend. Newcomers have to come. I too was a newcomer once. In the present context things are not that easy for newcomers. Competition is tough. They have to prove their worth and for that they have to fight hard. And if a newcomer's first film succeeds, he has to take care to sustain his success spree. And in case his first film turns out to be a flop, he has to obtain a fighting spirit from that failure and try to make a better comeback. Anyway, the arrival of newcomers would encourage and activate the likes of us too. Moreover, this is the age of consumerism, and for us the consumers are the film-going public. And these consumers demand more and more of variety. The presence of new artists would help us in giving the audience variety fare.

Besides acting what are your other interests?
I never thought of coming into films itself. It was quite accidental. For me acting in films is something that just happened one fine morning. And so, I cannot say for sure as to what would happen in future. Maybe I'd take to some other aspect of films too. But which aspect, I can't say now.

What's your ultimate ambition as an actor?
As I said earlier, I have a lot of limitations as an actor. I cannot aspire to be a National Award winner or an Oscar winning actor. I just want people to accept me as a not-so-boring actor, i.e, a good actor. That's what I can call my ultimate ambition.

Any dream role ?
Nothing of that sort. I know my limitations as an actor. And I aim at doing whatever role I get to the best of my ability and of course within my limitations.