Down to a fine art

KOCHI: The Covid-19 lockdown has brought the Malayalam movie industry to a standstill. Many actors are using this time to be with their families while many are actively campaigning on social media, joining the fight against the disease. Few others, however, are using this time to explore their creative talents. Actor Anu Mohan has turned to pencil sketching and his works are getting great feedback on social media. “I was sitting idle during the first two days of lockdown.

Then I started looking at a few old photos on my phone.  I discovered pencils and drawing tools while exploring my apartment,” he says. Though Anu shares his works often through his social media handles, the ones that received great attention were the sketches of actors Jayasurya and Manju Warrier.

“Few days back, I watched Jayasurya’s ‘Njan Marykutty’ again. I loved watching it in the theatre and his character was amazing. That is when I thought of sketching that character. Jayasurya shared it through his Facebook and Instagram profile and got very popular. I happened to see a few bits of the movie ‘Asuran’ recently and sketched Manju Warrier’s character. She shared it too,” Anu adds.

Despite not having any formal training in pencil sketching, Anu always cherished drawing since he was a kid. “YouTube tutorials helped me get better and learn a few tricks. Drawing is not just about sketching with pencils. Pencils only help create the dark outlines. The depth of a drawing is attained by using tools like paper, ear buds and cotton. We need to blend different elements to make it look perfect,” he says. 

He still remembers how his father inspired him to sketch during school days. “Once, there was a drawing competition conducted by a children’s magazine in Karunagappally government school. Unfortunately, I couldn’t enter the competition due to the rush.

So my father took me to Azheekal beach at noon and asked me to sketch the beach. When I finished, it looked great. My father told me to focus more on drawing such pictures rather than on winning prizes.” The lockdown days are helping him spend more time with his mother, wife and one-year-old son JJayyden. “Watching movies is another pastime,” he quips. Anu’s recent release was ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’ where he played police officer Sujith. He was shooting for Madhu Warrier’s directorial movie ‘Lalitham Sundaram’, sharing the screen with Biju Menon and Manju Warrier.