V. Suresh Thampanoor alias Aristo Suresh of ‘Action Hero Biju’ fame

V. Suresh Thampanoor, alias Aristo Suresh is a character artist of Malayalam cinema. He shot to fame as a singer, composer and actor playing a brief role of a drunkard in his debut flick, Action Hero Biju released in 2016. He wrote, composed and sang the countryside/folk song, “Muthe Ponne Pinangalle” without the aid of any music instrument, and he turned a star overnight with this single song sequence. He also excelled as an actor when this song was filmed on him. Suresh was a lower-middle class head load worker, whose destiny changed with the film release, and it was a life changing moment too. After that he appeared in half a dozen of Malayalam films and was a strong contestant of celebrity reality show, Bigg Boss Malayalam in 2018, hosted by Mohanlal. He was a finalist.

Suresh hails from Kannettumukku, Thiruvananthapuram city. He is unmarried but has a lot of romantic dreams and a secret lover. Now he lives with his ailing old mother who is 75+. He worked as a head load worker from Aristo Junction of Thampanoor, Thiruvananthapuram Main City for many years till luck knocked at his door. Sakhavu, Udaharanam Sujatha, Poomaram, Kuttanadan Marpappa, Parole and Cuban Colony are some of his film appearances.

Suresh belonged to a poor family with 5 sisters and estranged mother and he had to financially support them. His mother later remarried. He was interested in plays and movies right from the childhood. He studied till class 8, and used to bunk classes to watch movies in the afternoon. He reached home at usual time so that he was not caught. But finally he was caught by school authorities one day. He used to collect scrap and sell it to fund his movie tickets, mostly English in his nearly theatre. Yet it never made a difference. He just wanted to join film industry, as an actor, director or screenwriter. He even wrote a few scripts which got rejected. He also got interested in politics.

V. Suresh Thampanoor – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. A song changed the life of a load worker forever, and though the role was short, it gave Suresh a dream debut at the age of 47. Though it was a late entry to film scene, it was so amazing and nice.

2. He wrote lyrics of Muthe Ponne Pinangalle, composed, did playback singing and also performed on screen. It’s a very rare phenomenon on Indian screen for a debutant to make his first song such a big hit without the help of any music instrument.   

3. The whole background score of Muthe Ponne Pinangalle was fully provided by hands, which is indeed unique for a mainstream movie. The song also became the highlight of the film. It was written in one of the leisure hours of Suresh, who never gave up his passion of writing.

4. His friends tease him with the nickname, Action Hero Suresh, after he turned immensely popular with the film release.

5. It was one of his friends Sreejith who introduced him to Bobby Mohan, Abrid Shine’s friend. It later became a life changing moment to him.

6. As he worked as a coolie in Aristo Junction of Thampanoor, ‘Aristo’ tag got added to his name.

7. He is also known as a good chef in the friends’ circle of Thampanoor.

8. He used to perform stage plays with his friends at railway station. He once dreamt about becoming a film director, and was almost sure he would reach the cine bizz someday.

9. During his stay in Bigg Boss house, his over possessiveness towards Pearle Maaney was noticed. They had good bonding in the initial weeks of the show. He also wished to talk to his mother regarding his relationship with Pearle. But Pearle denied the favours.

10. Years back he had to spend 2 weeks in jail for a crime he never committed. Though he requested and tried to convince the sub collector that he was innocent, he was remanded. Years later Suresh became a chief guest of a function where the same sub collector was also present, and interestingly he delivered a speech praising Suresh!

11. Still he dreams to become a director and has decided to marry only after this dream comes true. He met his lady love during the shooting of ‘Action Hero Biju’ and very soon became friends. Now they are deeply in love, and Suresh writes beautiful love poems for her. She currently runs a college canteen. He believes that nothing can inspire writings as much as what a true romance can do.