Anil Nedumangad – TV anchor turned film actor of Malayalam cinema

Anil Nedumangad was a film actor of Malayalam cinema, best known for playing character roles. He has been an experienced theatre actor, and TV anchor who has worked with leading Malayalam TV channels like Asianet, Reporter TV, Kairali TV, Kairali New and JaiHind TV for many years before foraying into acting in 2014 through highly acclaimed movie, Njan Steve Lopez. He got his first major break through Kammatti Paadam in 2016, and has played more than 25 character roles on screen till now. In 2020 he earned a lot of praises for his full-fledged positive role as C.I. Satheesh in Ayyappanum Koshiyum, co-starring Prithviraj and Biju Menon. Unfortunately on Christmas day same year, he drowned in Malankara dam, when he stepped into it to take a bath with his friends.

He started his career with theatre before becoming a TV anchor

Anil Nedumangad was born in Nedumangad of Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala in 1972. Both his parents are retired government employees. His father is a retired teacher and his mother is a retired superintendent of KSEB. His elder brother is an Ayurvedic doctor. After graduating in Malayalam, he enrolled at School of Drama, Thrissur to pursue a career in the field of acting. He completed his studies during 1997-1998. He got drawn towards theatre and worked as a stage actor for many years. Later he started his career as a TV anchor and had a late entry to films at the age of 42.

When he joined television in the 1990s, local TV channels had just started to gain popularity. He initially worked with Asianet and concentrated most on comedy shows, though he was not a mimicry artist. He worked as a TV anchor and program producer. He associated with many mimicry artists for his TV shows. Later his movie-based comedy shows like Star War, Jurrassic World, Telescope etc got noticed. The weekly show, Star War was an editing based show using the concept of montage, which showed old generation and new generation cine artists together, first one of this kind in Malayalam television.

Njan Steve Lopez – was his debut Malayalam film

Anil as C.I. Satheesh in Ayyappanum Koshiyum

Though he made a late entry to films, he made most of his character roles memorable on screen. However he was active in theatre before joining films, and he met director Rajeev Ravi through theatre friends, and the director gave his first break to films. He has been mostly busy in theatre before doing films. As he belongs to a non-filmy background, it was not easy for him to get good roles in films. His role in Surendran Ashan in gangster movie, Kammatti Paadam was a major turning point of his career.

In 2020 his pivot role as C.I. Satheesh in Ayyappanum Koshiyum was quite different from stereotype police officer roles of Malayalam cinema. He played the role of a very friendly and calm officer in the movie, and it was his first full-fledged role. Some of his character roles are Kammatti Paadam, Porinju Mariyam Jose, Ayal Njan Alla, Paavada, Kismat, Aami, Parole, Ayyappanum Koshiyum etc. He was in Thodupuzha for the shooting of a movie when he accidentally drowned on 25th December, 2020. He was only 48. 

Anil Nedumangad – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He has done many comedy skits and comedy shows in Asianet television during his first phase of professional journey.

2. During his stint with television he also appeared in one TV serial, Oru Sankeerthanam Pole directed by Venu Nagavally, which went unnoticed.

3. For a chance in cinema, he has tried a lot during early days. He somehow got the number of director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, the first person to whom he asked a chance in movie. He approached the director later, who talked with him for one hour. He has also asked chance to Lenin Rajendran, Venu Nagavally etc.

4. He played an uncredited role for two minutes in Thaskara Veeran. It was his first role in movie, and he got this role with the help of Mammootty, the lead hero of the movie. He shared screen space with Mammootty for duration of 2 and a half minutes in the movie, where he portrayed a drunkard bank manager in a bar.

5. He got his break to acting through Rajeev Ravi’s directorial, Njan Steve Lopez, and came to limelight with same director’s highly praised movie, Kammatti Paadam.

6. Though he made a late entry to films, he always felt it is good. He believed that he might have become field-out like many of his contemporaries, if he had made an early entry to films.