Vinayakan

Vinayakan is an Indian actor, former dancer, and composer who predominantly works in Malayalam films apart from some Tamil language films.^[1][2][3] He started his career with a cameo appearance in the 1995 film Maanthrikam.

Vinayakan
Vinayakan in 2022
Born	Vinayakan T. K. Ernakulam, Kerala, India
Occupations	Actor composer
Years active	1995–present
Awards	Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor (2016)

Vinayakan won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor in the year 2016 for his leading role of Ganga in Rajiv Ravi's Kammatipaadam.^[4] His recognized roles include Edakochi Dude in Aadu - Oru Bheegara Jeevi Aanu and its successor film Aadu 2, and as Ayyappan in Lijo Jose Pellissery's Ee.Ma.Yau.

He achieved wider attention by playing the antagonist Varman in Nelson Dilipkumar's Tamil-language action film Jailer (2023) starring Rajinikanth.^[5]

Career

Acting

Vinayakan began his career as a dancer and had a dance troupe named Black Mercury with Fire dance being his forte. Director Thampi Kannanthanam introduced him in Maanthrikam and later in Onnaman. He was noticed for his performances in Stop Violence, Vellithira, Chathikkatha Chanthu, Chotta Mumbai and Thottappan. Also, he appeared in a couple of Bollywood movies.^[2][3]

Vinayakan was appreciated for his performance as Ganga in Rajeev Ravi' s 2016 film Kammatipaadam,^[6][7] and nominated for a national award.^[8] It also brought him the Best Actor Award of the Kerala State Film Awards, The North American Film Award for Outstanding performance in a film and Best Actor Award (2016) of the Cinema Paradiso Club Cine Awards.^[9] In the same film, he made his debut as a music director.^[10]

Ee.Ma.Yau. was included in The Hindu's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade and is widely regarded as one of the defining movies of the New Wave Movement.^[11]

His upcoming projects include Gautham Vasudev Menon's Dhruva Natchathiram:Chapter One - Yuddha Kaandam.^[12]

Music

Vinayakan composed the song "Puzhu Pulikal" for the movie Kammatipaadam.^[13] He has also composed the music for the title track of Trance (2020).^[14] He has also sung songs for Rafi's film Role Models and another one for Ordinary, Sugeeth's movie.^[10]

Controversies

On July 2023, Vinayakan publicly shamed late Chief Minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy through Facebook live. Actor faced public criticism and death threats for this rude behaviour.^[15]

On 24 October 2023, he was arrested for creating a ruckus at the Ernakulam Town North police station in Kochi. The incident was from a family dispute and he was later released on bail after a medical examination. MLA of Thrikkakara, Uma Thomas, publicly criticized the quick release, suggesting it was related to Vinayakan's political associations ^[16][17]

On 7 September 2024, Vinayakan was taken into custody by Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Police in Hyderabad following an altercation with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) gate staff. He was reportedly under the influence of alcohol during the incident.^[15] Security officials affirmed he arrived in Hyderabad in a visibly drunken state on an Indigo flight from Kochi and was to travel to Goa, before his arrest.^[18]

Filmography

Key

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

Malayalam

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Maanthrikam	Michael Jackson dupe	Debut
2001	Onnaman	Patrick
2002	Stop Violence	Montha
2003	Vellithira	Padavan
	Ivar	Vinayakan
2004	Chathikkatha Chanthu	Romy
	Greetings	Hari
	Quotation	Maya
2005	By the People	Porter
	Makalkku	Mental Patient
	Junior Senior	Sivan
	Udayon	Thoma's helper
2006	Thanthra	Mayan
	Chinthamani Kolacase	Uchandi
	Jayam	Saheer
2007	Chotta Mumbai	Satheeshan
	Big B	Pandi Asi
2008	Pachamarathanalil	Mad Man
2009	Nammal Thammil	Tony
	Daddy Cool	Shelvam
	Sagar alias Jacky Reloaded	Style
2010	Best Actor	Pottan
2011	The Train	Githu
2012	Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty	Alex
	Bachelor Party	Fakeer
2013	Police Maman	Manu
	5 Sundarikal	Chandran	Segment - Aami
	Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus	Sayippu
2014	Masala Republic	Bengali Babu
	Njan Steve Lopez	Prathaapan
	Iyobinte Pustakam	Chemban
	Seconds	Thampi
2015	Aadu - Oru Bheegara Jeevi Aanu	Damodaran Unnimakan Delmen Edakochi "Dude"
	Chandrettan Evideya	Rajaraja Cholan	Extended cameo
	Any Time Money
2016	Kali	Johnettan
	Kammattipaadam	Gangadharan (Ganga)	Best Actor - Kerala State Film Award
2017	Role Models	Jyothish Narayanan
	Aadu 2	Dude
2018	Diwanjimoola Grand Prix	Vareedh
	Swathandriam Ardharathriyil	Simon
	Ee.Ma.Yau	Ayyappan	[19]
2019	Thottappan	Ithaq
	Pranaya Meenukalude Kadal	Hyder
	Valiyaperunnal	Himself	Cameo
2020	Trance	Thomas	Also composed title track
2021	Operation Java	Ramanathan
2022	Pada	Balu
	Oruthee	Sub Inspector Antony
	Panthrandu	Andhro
2023	Kasargold	Alex	[20]
2024	Thekku Vadakku	Madhavan	[21]
TBA	Karinthandan †	Karinthandan	Filming

Tamil

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Thimiru	Easwari's sidekick
2008	Singakutty	Gumban	Uncredited
	Kaalai	Mokkai
	Ellam Avan Seyal	Pichandi
	Silambattam	Tamizh’s best friend
2009	Madurai Sambavam	Anand aka Mandaiyan
2011	Siruthai	Henchman
2013	Maryan	Theekkurissi
2023	Jailer	Varman
TBA	Dhruva Natchathiram †	TBA	Unreleased

Other languages

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
2005	James	Shanti Narayan's henchman	Hindi
2006	Asadhyudu	Thambu	Telugu

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Film(s)	Result
2016	Kerala State Film Award	Best Actor	Kammatipaadam	Won
2016	Movie Munshi Cine Awards			Won
2017	Filmfare Awards South	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	CPC Cine Awards	Best Actor		Won
2018		Best Character Actor	Ee.Ma.Yau.	Won
2019	Filmfare Awards South	Best Supporting Actor		Won