Soubin Shahir

In this Indian name, the name Shahir is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Soubin.

Soubin Shahir (born 12 October 1983) is an Indian actor, director and producer who works in Malayalam cinema. He began his film career as an assistant director in 2003 and worked under several directors. Soubin made his acting debut in 2013 with a supporting role in Annayum Rasoolum. He made his directorial debut with the drama Parava (2017).

Soubin Shahir
Soubin in 2019
Born	(1983-10-12) 12 October 1983 (age 41) Kochi, Kerala, India[1]
Occupations	Actor writer director Producer
Years active	1992–present
Height	168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Spouse	Jamia Zaheer ​ (m. 2017)​
Children	1

His breakthrough role came in 2015 with his comic character in Premam.^[2] In 2018, he won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his leading role in Sudani from Nigeria, which was also a major commercial success. He portrayed one of the main characters in Manjummel Boys, which went on to become the highest grossing Malayalam film ever, which he also produced.

Early life

Soubin was born and raised in Fort Kochi,^[1] Kerala, India. He has a brother and sister. His father Babu Shahir was an assistant director and production controller who had worked in films such as Manichithrathazhu, Godfather, In Harihar Nagar among others.^[3]

Career

Soubin started his film career as an assistant director in the industry with Siddique's Chronic Bachelor (2003). He assisted directors like Fazil, Siddique, Rafi-Mecartin, P. Sukumar, Santhosh Sivan, Rajeev Ravi, and Amal Neerad.^[4] He made his acting début in Fazil's Kaiyethum Doorath (2002) while working as an assistant director. He got a breakthrough role with Alphonse Putharen's Premam (2015) where he played the role of a PT teacher. This led to his popularity as an actor in the industry.^[2][5] His popular roles include in films Charlie (2015), Maheshinte Prathikaaram (2016), Kali (2016), Darvinte Parinamam (2016), Kammatipaadam (2016), Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (2016), Mayanadhi (2017), Comrade in America – CIA (2017), and Kumbalangi Nights. His first full lead role was in the film Sudani from Nigeria (2018) for which he won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor.^[6][7]

In 2024, he played the part of Siju David aka "Kuttan" in Manjummel Boys. He also produced the movie. It went on to receive critical acclaim and set several box-office records, becoming the highest grossing Malayalam film, and the first film from the industry to earn more than ₹200 crore.^[8][9]

He is also a partner in Parava Films, a production company that has produced hits like Manjummel Boys.^[10]

Personal life

On 16 December 2017, he married his fiancée^[11] Jamia Zaheer. Jamia is a marketing professional,^[12] based in Kochi. The couple has a son born in May 2019.

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Vietnam Colony		Child artist
	Pappayude Swantham Appoos
1993	Kabooliwala
2002	Kaiyethum Doorath	Bus Passenger	Cameo appearance
2005	Pandipada	Peacock Man in Function
2010	Bodyguard	College Student
2011	Urumi	Tribal Gang Member
2012	Da Thadiya	Himself	Cameo appearance
2013	Annayum Rasoolum	Collin
	Kadal Kadannoru Mathukkutty
	5 Sundarikal	Poovalan	Anthology film; Segment: Kullante Bharya
2014	Masala Republic	Althaf
	Iyobinte Pusthakam	Ivan's Henchman
2015	Chandrettan Evideya	Sumesh
	Premam	Shivan Sir
	Loham	Street Rowdy
	Rani Padmini	Madan
	Charlie	Sunikuttan
2016	Maheshinte Prathikaaram	Crispin
	Hello Namasthe	Abu
	Kali	Prakashan
	Darvinte Parinamam	Willy
	Mudhugauv	Kumari
	Kammatipaadam	Karate Biju
	Happy Wedding	Matrimony Consultant
	Anuraga Karikkin Vellam	Fakru/Fakrudheen
	Popcorn	Milton
2017	Comrade in America – CIA	Joemon
	Achayans	Qi
	Parava	Drug addict	Cameo appearance; directorial debut
	Solo	Pattu
		Shekhar's friend at his birthday party	Tamil film; special appearance in the song "Thoovanam"
	Mayaanadhi	Sameera's Ikka	Cameo appearance
2018	Street Lights	Subin
	Carbon	Aanakkaran Rajesh
	Rosapoo	Sajeer
	Sudani from Nigeria	Majeed
	Kuttanadan Marpappa	Freddy
	Mohanlal	Mr. Who
	Mangalyam Thanthunanena	Himself	Special appearance
2019	Kumbalangi Nights	Saji
	Mera Naam Shaji	Shaji
	Oru Yamandan Premakadha	Vicky
	Virus	Unnikrishnan
	Ambili	Ambili
	Vikruthi	Sameer
	Android Kunjappan Version 5.25	Subramanian / Chuppan
	Valiyaperunnal	Hanumanth Sheonayi
2020	Trance	Mathew Thomas (Mathaai)
	Halal Love Story	Azad
2021	Irul	Alex
	Meow	Dusthackeer
	Churuli	Mayiladumparambil Joy
2022	Bro Daddy	Happy Pinto
	Kallan D`Souza	D’Souza
	Bheeshma Parvam	Ajas Ali
	Third World Boys	Soubin
	CBI 5: The Brain	Paul Meijo / Sandeep / Manzoor
	Jack N' Jill	Kuttaps
	Ela Veezha Poonchira	Madhu
	Gold	Mittu
2023	Djinn	Dhanapalan
	Romancham	Jibin Madhavan	[13]
	Vellari Pattanam	K.P Suresh	[14]
	Ayalvaashi	Thaju	[15]
	Live	Sriram	[16]
	King of Kotha	Suitcase Leslie	Cameo appearance
2024	Manjummel Boys	Siju David "Kuttan"	Also producer[17]
	Nadikar	Bala	[18]
2025	Pravinkoodu Shappu	Kannan	[19]
	Machante Maalakha	Sajeevan	[20]
	Coolie †	Dayal	Tamil film[21]

As voice actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2023	Valatty	Haridas/Karidas(voice)	[22]

As director

List of films directed

Year	Title	Production company	Notes
2017	Parava	Anwar Rasheed Entertainments	Debut as a director

As producer

List of films produced

Year	Title	Production company	Notes
2024	Manjummel Boys	Parava Films	Debut production[23]

Awards

• 2018: Kerala State Film Awards for Best Actor, for the movie, Sudani From Nigeria^[7]
• 2018: 66th Filmfare Awards South for Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor – Malayalam for the movie, Sudani from Nigeria^[24]

Controversy

The Enforcement Directorate is investigating money laundering allegations related to the Malayalam movie Manjummel Boys. A case has been registered, and notices have been issued to the film's producers and actors Soubin Shahir, Babu Shahir, and Shawn Antony.^[25]