People ask me to keep my hairstyle as it is: Rishi Kumar
Youngster Rishi Kumar K S rose to fame as 'Mudiyan' aka Vishnu of the popular sitcom, Uppum Mulakum.
With his tight curls, the 'freakan' son in the serial has impressed telly viewers with his natural style of acting. Rishi, a dancer turned actor in his 20s, speaks to us about his small screen entry, how his unusual hairstyle turned out to be his identity and his biggest passion, dance.
Stepping into the small screen
My entry into the small screen was through the dance reality show D4 Dance. I am a self-taught professional dancer and was able to showcase my dancing skills for the first time in front of a large audience through the show. Uppum Mulakum's director R Unnikrishnan sir's call came as a surprise to me, asking if I am interested to act in the sitcom. It was his son Anandu who suggested me to him after watching my dance performances. And thus I decided to try a hand at acting. The first thing that Unni sir asked me to do was cut my hair which I flatly refused. He had mockingly told me that my curly hair would make my character a hit which has turned a reality now (laughs).
The show has completed more than 220 episodes now and each day I am getting to learn something new. As I had performed before onscreen, facing the camera was not difficult for me. But I learnt the fundamentals of acting like voice modulation, expressions and camera angles through this show. We get a lot of space to improvise our lines, which is crucial in acting.
My character Vishnu aka Mudiyan is the same as I am in real life. The whole crew is like a second home for me. Though I have two younger brothers, Risheak and Rithu in real life, my onscreen siblings, Juhi Rustagi (Lachu), Al Sabith (Keshu) and Shivani Menon (Shiva) never make me miss them. The role has given me an identity and recognition among the public.
Mudiyan is my identity
During the dance reality show days, only youngsters used to recognise me but now I am 'Mudiyan chettan' for everyone. When I roam around in the city with my friends, people would identify me and come to me addressing me as 'Mudiyan chetta...' or Vishnu. I consider it a privilege (laughs). Most of the older people want to enquire about my onscreen mom Neelu (Nisha Sarang) and dad Balu (Biju Sopanam) thinking that we are a real family.
Before the show while mall-hopping in my hometown Ernakulam, people used to stare at my hair and pass comments like "mudi vettan paisa illeda..." but now my hairstyle is getting acceptance. People love it and even suggest that I don't cut it, on my social networking page. Thus I think to an extent I have been able to change the attitude that boys with 'freakan' hairstyles are bad boys. I cannot compromise with my hair and I feel proud to represent the Mudiyanmar (laughs).
Acting, dance and academics...
I had enrolled for a BBA course at Bangalore but due to my shooting schedules, had to drop it. Dance is my passion in life so I wish to graduate in it from an acknowledged university abroad. I wish to take acting seriously and hope to balance it with dancing.
The sitcom drama ‘Uppum Mulakum’ follows a pattern of natural acting which gives ample opportunity for Rishi to perform before the camera. He has already proved his skill also as a dancer.
‘Uppum Mulakum’ revolves around the family of Balachandran (Balu), his wife Neelima (Neelu), their five kids Parvathy, Vishnu (Mudiyan), Lakshmi (Lachu), Keshavan (Keshu) and Shivani (Shiva) and Neelima’s brother Sreekuttan.
Apart from acting the sitcom, Rishi has made his appearance in shows like ‘D4 Dance’, ‘Comedy Super Nite’ and ‘Sreekandan Nair Show’’
Up next...
I had received a few film projects when Uppum Mulakum crossed more than 395 episodes but due to dance shows and filming schedules of the sitcom I couldn't take them up. But if I get good scripts where I can explore my acting skills, I would definitely commit to a big screen project. I love to do comedy roles and different kinds of characters, like Sekhar Menon's Luke in Da Thadiya. It is one of my dreams to act in a Vineeth Sreenivasan film. I won't think twice if I get a chance for it.
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