Malayalam films’ association with foreign actors is nothing new to the malayalees. Remember Gavin Packard, whose villainous presence in movies during the 90s was inevitability. He was a cruel, cold blooded villain and had received harsh punches from the heroes especially Mohanlal. The audience loved seeing him onscreen.
Joining the slew of foreign actors trying their luck in Mollywood, Hollywood actor Louis Mandylor is uniting with Baby Antony for his upcoming project, ‘Power Star’, directed by Omar Lulu’s action thriller.
Louis is known for ‘My Fat Greek Wedding’ and its sequel, in which he played the main character’s brother.
He has also appeared in an episode of ‘ Friends’ called ‘The One With Unagi’ as an acquaintance of Joey Tribbiani (played by Matt Le Blanc).
Louis and Babu Antony had known each other for a while. It was the action star who suggested Louis’ name to Omar Lulu when the director was looking for a Hollywood actor with substantial stardom and martial arts knowledge for an important role.
Babu Antony admitted that though he was happy that the Australian actor agreed to the project but was worried about the remuneration. However Louis assured him not to worry about the pay and he is doing the project because of their friendship.
Movies with foreign actors in prominent roles were not frequent in Malayalam films sometimes back . However, in recent years actors from other countries are playing substantial meaty roles driving the film’s narrative.
And there are some endearing roles, recent ones being Nylah from ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ and Samuel aka Sudu in ‘Sudani from Nigeria’.
Priyadarshan’s ‘Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham’, Geo Baby’s ‘Kilometers and Kilometers’, Salim Ahamed’s ‘And the Oscar goes To’… and even Mohanlal’s debut directorial ‘Barroz’, all have foreign actors playing pivotal roles.
Priyadarshan’s ‘Marakkar’ has four Britishers and a Chinese actor named Jay Jakkrit, who plays the role of Kunjali Marakkar’s sidekick Chinali.
