In an interview with Anupriya, Krishna Sankar, who was recently seen in Manju Warrier’s Ayisha describes how trolls have helped him consciously select scripts. Once, Krishna had come across a meme that took a dig at his selection of films. The meme imagines him rejecting two scripts and accepting the third one because the script has him say the sarcastic dialogue, “Manga Tholi” (which literally translates to Mango peel, but in an ironic way, means useless). And it dawned upon Krishna that he has been saying the famous dialogue in all his movies ever since the line became a hit in Premam (2015). “I understood that people were noticing details in films and I should be aware of it. Creating memes is difficult because they say huge things in just a couple of lines, and that too with humour. It is a real talent,” acknowledges the actor.
Krishna says that besides finding his character in Ayisha interesting, what got him excited was the fact that he got to work with Manju Warrier, with whom he has previously collaborated in Vellaripattanam (in production). Speaking of his experience working with Warrier, he says, “She is a director’s actor. For instance, when she does something, she always asks the director how they want it and delivers it that way. I am not very good at it. This is something I have watched her do and learnt from it.”
While the actor made his acting debut with Alphonse Puthren’s Neram (2013) and became an audience favourite as Koya in Premam (2015), it was in Kochaal (2022) that he got to play his first lead role. Having acted in comedic roles for long, he played a police officer in Kochaal, which was bereft of comedy. He looks at humour as something that needs to be required by the story. People nowadays are consuming humour from many places, including reels, so it is a huge task to make them laugh, observes Krishna. “It’s always the story that is important. One needs to have a space to stand only then can they do comedy or fight. So the script is always the foundation for the humour to work.”
Krishna is also a producer and adds that he finds a creator’s job exciting. He says, “When we are producers of projects that we are also acting in, we would know it in and out and I believe it only benefits the film. While having discussions or sharing opinions, people trust us. Some may say that being a producer can be a huge headache but if you have a good team, it is different.” So, do the pressures of being a producer affect his acting? “No, because that’s what you call acting, right? Even if you are crying inside, you act and laugh on screen,” concludes the actor-producer.