Dileep excited about forthcoming releases

With three hits in 2010, Dileep has every reason to smile. Now, the bumper opening for his latest release Christian Brothers has excited him even more.

Christian Brothers has three heroes in the lead -- Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Sarath Kumar -- besides him.

He is now eagerly awaiting the release of another multi-starrer, China Town, with Mohanlal and Jayaram with him. In between, he has completed Orma Maathram, a 'serious' movie, directed by Madhu Kaithapram and has done a guest role in Filmstar.

Here is a quick chat with Dileep, at the location of Orma Maathram. Excerpts:

Christian Brothers has opened in a record number of centres. Is this going to be a new trend in Malayalam?

It can happen if the producer has confidence about his film and has the mind to do it. Initials are important and it is perhaps a nice move, since the film has a big star cast. If this is going to be a new trend, well, then it is good.

You have China Town lined up now. How is it working in multi-starrers?

It is absolutely great and we were having a great time shooting together for both the films. The best thing about Christian Brothers and China Town is that I am having entirely different roles in each of them.

I am playing Lalettan's (Mohanlal) brother in Christian Brothers. Jojy, my character, gave up his life at the seminary after falling in love with a girl. My character in China Town is behind every pretty girl and is the lovable boy next door, perhaps more like the image that I am usually tagged with.

How difficult is it then to turn serious and do the role of a clerk in a lawyer's office in Orma Maathram?

It is the challenge before any actor, to get into the shoes of a character at the fastest possible time. Like water taking the shape of a vessel, the actor has to mould himself according the requirements of the role.

My character in Orma Maathram is that of a genuine man, who is in the search of his lost son. I do experiment with my looks in most of my films and that perhaps makes it easier to absorb the role, in a more effective way.

You had three hits in 2010. Did you expect those films to do so well?

We had confidence about the three films, Pappi Appacha, Kaaryasthan and Marykkundoru Kunjaadu but they turned out to be bigger hits than we had anticipated. The best thing about these films is that the characters in them were completely different. For that matter, even my characters in Bodyguard and Aagathan, which were the other releases last year, were interesting ones as well.

Which are your forthcoming projects?

I am doing Mr Marumakan, scripted by Siby K Thomas and Udayakrishna and directed by Sandhya Mohan next. There are a few projects in the pipeline but the schedules have not been fixed as yet.