Baiju – Popular Character Artist of Malayalam cinema

Baiju alias Baiju Santhosh is a very popular character artist of Mollywood since 1980s. Over the years he has essayed various shades of character roles, most notably comic roles as well as playing sidekick to lead actors. He has also appeared as a child artist, teenager, lead actor, parallel lead or as a part of ensemble star cast. He has spent nearly 4 decades in Malayalam cinema appearing in more than 1000 films, apart from doing a few TV shows. He excels in comic and light film roles.

His real name is Baiju Santhosh Kumar, and he hails from Thiruvananthapuram. His father was a businessman and his mother, a government servant. He marked his acting debut as a child artist at the age of 10 through Maniyan Pilla Adhava Maniyan Pilla in 1982. Over the years he turned a very popular character artist of Malayalam cinema. Vadakkunokki Yanthram and Mudra are among his noted roles as a teenager in the 1980s.

He became a part of several masala potboilers of 1990s, when ensemble cast small budget films ruled the screen. After playing brief and full-length roles for more than three decades, he got a major breakthrough role through Puthen Panam in 2017. His supporting role of Stephen Achayan in Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal (2018) and the titular role of Mera Naam Shaji (2019) also got appreciated.

Baiju – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. His real name is B. Santhosh Kumar and his family members call him as Baiju. When he got into film field, there were only a few artists with the name Baiju and so he took it as screen name.

2. He was born into a rich business family. Yet the family fell into debts because of business losses of his father. Later he repaid full money through the remuneration he earned through films.

3. He has been a mimicry artist during his early days.

4. He was charged for holding a licensed pistol during election time once.

5. A case was registered against him in 2005 for assaulting a businessman.

6. He is an atheist.

7. His home was near Tharangini music recording studio of Yesudas, and during his younger days he used to loiter around the studio in the company of a few friends. At one such occasion, the music legend advised him to revise his study portions.

8. During his early days in cinema, he played parallel lead role aside Mahesh in “Kalyana Unnikal” which got a delayed release after 10 years. Otherwise the movie would have changed his destiny in the early phase itself. It was followed by lead roles in Start Camera Action and The President, the movies which never saw the daylight.  

9. He was a part of ensemble cast of hit movies like Sakshal Sreeman Chathunni, Mattupetti Machan, Kalyana Kacheri etc in the 1990s, which cemented his position in the film industry.

10. During the bad phase of his career he also tried his luck in real estate and vehicle selling business. Yet he felt bad for not receiving film roles.

11. Neutral Kunjappan in Puthan Panam gave him a major break after a downfall of his career. After that he played his career best roles on screen.

12. Since he became a celebrity at a young age, he couldn’t complete his studies. He studied till PDC only.