Azees Nedumangad – Popular character artist of Malayalam cinema

Azees Nedumangad is a character artist who appears in Malayalam cinema. He is also an established stand-up comedian and mimicry artist. After a few years of initial struggles, he is getting memorable roles in the recent times. Anweshippin Kandethum,Vaazha – Biopic of a Billion Boys,  Action Hero Biju, Minnal Murali, CBI 5, Shefeekkinte Santhosham, Kannur Squad, Nunakkuzhi, All We Imagine as Light, Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and many more. He has appeared in more than 30 films, in a credited role.

Azees Nedumangad is not from Nedumangad

Azees, born on February 22, 1985, belongs to Nedumangad of Thiruvananthapuram district. Hence, he added the suffix, Nedumangad to his stage name. His real name is Azees Haneefa. But in reality Nedumangad is not his birthplace. He was born in Pallitherivu, near Attukal temple. Till 5th standard he studied in Ambalathara School. After the marriage of his eldest sister his family moved to Uzhamalaykkal, 6 kms away from Nedumangad. During his mimicry days, someone addressed him as Azees coming from Nedumangad, and ‘Nedumangad’ tag got attached to his name.

His father worked in gulf and he has 4 siblings. The family was not in a good financial position. Like his father, his elder siblings moved to Gulf countries for job purposes. As he was the youngest one, he was lucky enough not to take the responsibility of the family. Yet he didn’t get much encouragement to pursue a career in the field of art. He struggled a lot to reach the position where he is right now. He also did electric engineering course from Mitra Niketan and moved to Gulf. But after a while he returned.

Azees was regular in school plays

His life as a performer started from the office room hall of Uzhamalaykkal Sree Narayana School, and he regularly participated in dramas. He started dreaming to become an actor while he was studying in grade 2. He has even participated in stage play at district level in Kerala school kalolsavam. He noticed that audience are not much interested in dramas. During such state festivals, there was huge crowd in mimicry and mono act, and slowly these performing art forms attracted him too.

His journey as a mimicry artist began with a local club

It was a time when the Tamil movie ‘Kadhalan‘, its hit songs and dances were trending everywhere. He approached a few friends, and then it was a new beginning as a mimicry artist. There was one local club in his village, where he, along with a group of friends got active with his performances. Later they started a mimicry troupe, Kalasadan, in lines with Cochin Kalabhavan.

The first program of the troupe was performed at Puthukulangara Sri Bhadrakali Temple. For his first performance he got a note garment and a temple lamp. They also got paid with 7000 rupees. His troupe got recognized among the local people. He still remembers his first performance and is grateful for it. Later when director Saji Surendran visited the temple, the locals recommended his name and thus Azees got a brief role in his film, Kunjaliyan. It was his first credited role.

Azees Nedumangad started his film journey in 2012

Prior to his film journey, he was known for his stage performances as a mimicry artist. In fact, his performance as a mimicry artist earned him the first film role, Kunjaliyan in 2012. Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty also happened the same time, though it was released two months later. Manianpilla Raju offered him the first ever credited role in this film, though this movie released second. He played a politician in this film. He is still continuing his stage performances, even after he established his career in Malayalam cinema.

He has worked as a junior artist in both films and television during his struggling days. Even while waiting for a brief role in the film or television sets, it’s not even sure he will get a role. Sometimes as a person reading newspaper or drinking tea, he may get such flash roles at the end of the day after a long wait. Later he chose not to do junior artist roles and took off the lawyer’s coat he was wearing for a shot, after someone commented a famous film dialogue, “A junior artist will always remain a junior artist”

The man who plays card in Action Hero Biju was his first noticed role

Action Hero Biju which included an ensemble cast brought many artists to limelight. Azees was one among those. That role was actually meant for Aju Varghese. But he couldn’t reach that day, and this time luck favoured Azees. Though he delivered just one or two dialogues, the role clicked among the audience. After that, he slowly started getting good roles and now he is a familiar face of Malayalam cinema.

One unfortunate incident turned his life upside down. In April 2017, he came late for a stage show and a group of people assaulted him. Apart from many other injuries, he also lost 70% hearing loss due to a perforated eardrum.

Azees Nedumangad shared an incident connecting superstar Suresh Gopi in an interview

Azees was once travelling with actor Suresh Gopi for a stage performance in America. In between the conversation, Azees told Suresh Gopi that his father is an excellent cook and that mutton curry is his masterpiece. Suresh Gopi replied that he also wants to taste his father’s special mutton curry. Azees didn’t take it seriously.

Just after one week he reached home after the tour, he got a call from Suresh Gopi asking him when to come to his home to eat mutton curry. Azees was so surprised with this unexpected phone call that he lost words for some time. Then he replied that Suresh Ettan can come anytime he wants. When Suresh Gopi visited his home, all of them were in big tension. The family was living in a small home and they were nervous if actor will like it. In reply to Azees’ mother’s question the super star replied that her son will build a big home in future, there is no confusion in that.

From that moment Azees started dreaming about a home and he fulfilled it after reaching film industry. The time when Suresh Gopi told these words, Azees was a small-time actor doing uncredited roles in films and mostly doing stage performances to earn a living. Later Suresh Gopi’s words come true.

Azees Nedumangad – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Nedumangad is not his birth town. He started performing mimicry after his family shifted to this place, and slowly people started calling him by this name.

2. After actor Ashokan expressed dissatisfaction towards Azees for mimicking him, he stopped mimicking the actor.

3. He has worked as a junior artist in both films and television during his struggling days.

4. The first time he showed his face for a film was in ‘Nammal Thammil’  lifting Prithviraj in a scene. It was just co-incidence when he went in the film set at Thiruvananthapuram, to talk to Prithviraj about planning a fan’s club for him. Later the club was formed and Azees is still its third member.

5. Though born as a Muslim, he respects temples, festivals and their traditions a lot, and he has never hesitated to do stage performances as a part of annual celebrations in Hindu temples. He respects temples as they give him a source of living.