Krishna Shankar – Popular Malayalam actor who played Koya in ‘Premam’

Krishna Shankar is a popular character artist of new age Malayalam cinema. Most of his roles with a comic touch have been successful. His college senior and director Alphonse Putharen gave him the first break to films through director’s debut flick, Neram in 2013, and also gave him the first full-fledged and most memorable role of his career – Koya (Nivin Pauley’s pal) in Premam. The supporting role with a comic touch shot him to instant fame, and also gave him more film offers. Yet the actor is a bit choosy about his roles, and hence he had only a few releases till now.

Krishna Shankar hails from Aluva of Ernakulam district. He is married to Neena and has one child. Neram – directed by his college senior marked his big screen debut, where he enacted the role of Manick. The movie also included many of his college mates. He also appeared in a brief role in Red Wine the same year. Valleem Thetti Pulleem Thetti, Marubhoomiyile Aana, Law Point, Aadhi, Allu Ramendran, Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela, Aadhi, Marubhoomiyile Aana, Premam, Bhayya Bhayya etc are among his notable performances later. His role as Koya in Premam established his career in Mollywood. Till then he was best known as ‘Manick’.

Krishna Shankar – Some interesting and less known facts

1. He frequently features with Nivin Pauley, whom he knows since college days. They worked together in Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela, Neram, Premam etc.

2. In the movie Premam, Nivin Pauley, Krishna Shankar and Sabareesh Varma played friends. In real life too they were friends at college days, and hence many of the film scenes look realistic. The actor feels that in fact they were not acting.

3. The friends’ reaction to Sai Pallavi’s first dance scene in Premam was real and not acting, because they never knew that she is a trained dancer.

4. Actor Sabareesh Varma was his classmate at college.

5. He received Best Newcomer Actor Award at Vanitha Film Awards 2015 for his impressive performance in Neram.

6. He is a permanent fixture in Alphonse Putharen’s films, and has appeared in all his movies, right from his debut film – Premam to the latest Thobama (as a producer).

7. He had to put on a few more pounds for his film – Thobama. From 68 kg, he had to increase his weight to 83 kgs to fit into the role of a fat person who dreams to become an actor.