Kalabhavan Shajohn – Malayalam character artist of ‘Dhrishyam’ fame

Kalabhavan Shajohn, previously known as Kalabhavan Shajon is a noted character artist and comedian of Malayalam cinema. He surprised everyone playing the negative role of cruel police constable in Malayalam blockbuster Dhrishyam in 2013, and the role gave him a major breakthrough. After that he played both positive and negative shades on screen. Ulsaha Committee, Munthirivallikal Thalirkumbol, Lucifer, Unda, Praise the Lord, Shylock, 2.0 (Tamil), Ring Master, Ladies & Gentlemen, Pavada, Oppam, Amar Akbar Anthony, Black Forest and Kattappanayile Hrithik Roshan are some other major works. In 2019 he turned a film director through Brother’s Day starring Prithviraj. However the movie opened to negative reviews.

A mimicry artist of Kalabhavan turned film actor

Kalabhavan Shajohn hails from Kottayam. His real name is Shaji John. His father worked in police and his mother was a nurse. Both he and his brother started their careers as mimicry artists and have performed together. In fact his elder brother brought him to mimicry scene. Initially he worked with the troupe owned by Mangalam Daily, followed by Joined Jocks India owned by Kalabhavan, Kochi. When Kalabhavan Navaz joined films, he joined Kalabhavan in that vacancy and performed as a mimicry artist for next 7 years till year 2000. After that he embarked on a journey of his own.

Body double for Kalabhavan Mani in bear costume for ‘Karady’ was his first film role

His first film role is quite interesting. He played the dupe of a bear in 1999 release, Karady. Ee Parakkum Thalika in 2001 is his first film role, where he played a traffic police. Since then for more than a decade he frequently featured in Dileep movies, though in minor roles. He also appeared in Bamboo boys, Nammal, Achanuragatha Veedu, In Ghost House Inn etc during his struggling days. After playing the negative role in Dhrishyam, he turned a busy actor and his struggling days came to an end, almost after 15 years staying in film industry. Now he is one of the most sought character artists of Malayalam film industry.

Kalabhavan Shajohn – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He has performed on stage as a mimicry artist aside Dileep in the 1990s long before joining films. Later during his struggling days, he played small roles in several Dileep movies such as Pachakuthira, Marykkundoru Kunjaadu, Chanthupottu, Inspector Garud, CID Moosa, Rasikan, Ee Parakkum Thalika, Crazy Gopalan, Runway, Paappi Appacha, Sadanandante Samayam, My Boss etc.

2. He played police constable’s role in maximum number of movies. Yet he earned fame in this role only after playing Police Constable Sahadevan in Dhrishyam after 15 years of experience in this field. Interesting his father was a police officer with Kerala police, who retired as Assistant sub-inspector of police.

3. His mother retired as head nurse of Kottayam Medical College.

4. He came as a replacement of Kalabhavan Navaz in Kalabhavan and as a replacement of Kalabhavan Mani in his debut flick, Karadi.

5. He had a love marriage with Dini in 2004 and the couple has two kids. They met for the first time at a rehearsal camp in Ernakulum one year before. Dini has just won Miss Thrissur title.

6. For his mimicry performances he initially imitated theatre artist, N. N. Pillai.

7. His breakthrough role in Dhrishyam earned him Special Mention at Kerala State Film Awards, and best negative role award in SIIMA, Vanitha Film Awards and Asianet Film Awards.