Kay Kay Menon | |
---|---|
Born | Krishna Kumar Menon 2 October 1966 |
Education | University of Pune |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1995–present |
Spouse | Nivedita Bhattacharya |
Krishna Kumar Menon (born 2 October 1966 [1] ), better known by the stage name Kay Kay Menon, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Hindi cinema, and few in Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu.
Menon was born into a Malayalam speaking family in Kozhikode, Kerala and raised in Ambarnath and Pune, Maharashtra, India. [1] He studied at the St. Joseph High School in Khadki, Pune. [2] He passed his 10th grade in 1981. He did his Bachelors (Physics) from Mumbai University [1] and his MBA from Department of Management Sciences (PUMBA) at the University of Pune, [1] graduating in 1988 with a major in Marketing. Menon's initial focus was working in the advertising industry, [1] including Kinetic Honda and Marlboro cigarette advertisements in India.
He started his career in theatre productions where he met Nivedita Bhattacharya, whom he married. His first theatre break was opposite Naseeruddin Shah in Feroz Abbas Khan's Mahatma vs Gandhi. [3]
In the early years of his career, Menon worked on television, with roles in the TV movies Zebra 2 and Last Train To Mahakali . He was praised for his role as a young Prime Minister in the Zee TV series Pradhan Mantri (2001), directed by Ketan Mehta. In The Hindu , Sevanti Ninan wrote, "an actor to watch: Kay Kay Menon ... this unusually tall actor who plays the pradhan mantri is a major saving grace" [4] while in The Tribune , Amita Malik commented, "excellent acting by Menon, who skilfully conveys the physical as well as mental image of the honest politician". [5]
Menon made his big screen debut with a small role in Naseem (1995), followed in 1999 by the lead role in Bhopal Express , [3] a movie that went mostly unnoticed. This was the first in a series of initial setbacks in Menon's film career. In the early 2000s, he starred as a wicked rock musician in Anurag Kashyap's debut movie, Paanch , which struggled with censorship and has remained unreleased. [6] [7] Two other movies, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Black Friday , had to wait many years for a release date. Meanwhile, his commercial films Deewar (starring Amitabh Bachchan) and Silsiilay (with Shahrukh Khan) flopped at the box office. It was only in 2005, with the eventual release of the critically acclaimed Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, but with Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar , Menon had his break. [6] Sarkar earned him a nomination for the Best Performance in a Negative Role at the Filmfare Awards.[ citation needed ] In The Tribune , Saibal Chatterjee called him "one of Bollywood's finest actors". [6]
In 2007, he acted in Life in a... Metro , Enemmy (2013), and Rahasya (2015), as an adulterous husband. In 2008, he appeared in Shaurya [8] [9] based on A Few Good Men . His portrayal of a ruthless army brigadier is still talked of among cinema lovers. [10] [11] In 2009, he starred in The Stoneman Murders where he played a police officer on the hunt for the Stoneman serial killer. [12] He played the role of Dukki Bana in Gulaal.
His role as Khurram Mir in 2014's Haider bagged him a Filmfare and IIFA award for Best Supporting Actor. He played a very crucial role in The Ghazi Attack as a Naval Captain based on an Indian Naval submarine, S21, intercepts a Pakistani submarine, PNS Ghazi, during routine surveillance and thwarts its mission of destroying INS Vikrant in 1971. He played a role as Vikram Singh in 2019's Penalty with co-actor Mohit Nain.
He impressed and gained more popularity with a role as Himmat Singh in 2020's Special Ops - a web series for Hotstar. In 2021, he again played the young version of Himmat Singh (R&AW leading officer) in Special Ops 1.5, the prequel part of Special Ops. OTT viewers admired his performance in this series. [13] Following the resounding success of espionage thriller Special Ops, Hotstar Specials is set to ring in a new form of storytelling with the launch of ‘Special Ops Universe’, created and conceptualized by film-maker Neeraj Pandey and Friday Storytellers.
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | Naseem | Islamic fundamentalist | Debut film [3] |
1999 | Bhopal Express | Verma | |
2002 | Chhal | Karan Menon | |
2003 | Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi | Siddharth Tyabji | Released in theaters in 2005 [14] |
2004 | Black Friday | DCP Rakesh Maria | Released in theaters in 2007 [15] |
Deewaar | Sohail Miyaan | ||
Silsiilay | Anwar Ahmed Bhoy | ||
2005 | Sarkar | Vishnu Nagare | Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role |
Dansh | Mathew | ||
Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh | Akash | ||
Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena | Kaif | ||
2006 | Corporate | Ritesh Sahani | Nominated—GIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor |
Shoonya | Mahendra Naik | ||
2007 | Strangers | Sanjeev Rai | |
Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. | Partho Sen | ||
Life in a... Metro | Ranjit Kapoor | Nominated—IIFA Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role | |
Go | Nagesh Rao | ||
2008 | Sarkar Raj | Vishnu Nagare | |
Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam | Haldi Hasan | ||
Mumbai Meri Jaan | Suresh | ||
Via Darjeeling | Ankur Sharma | ||
Shaurya | Brigadier Rudra Pratap Singh | ||
Sirf | Gaurav | ||
Drona | Riz Razaida | ||
2009 | The Stoneman Murders | Sanjay Shelar | |
Gulaal | Dukey Bana | ||
Aage se right | Janubhai/Baima Rashidul Kairi | ||
Sankat City | Guru | ||
2010 | Tera Kya Hoga Johnny | Inspector Shashikant Chiple | |
Lafangey Parindey | Anna | ||
Benny And Babloo | Benny | ||
2011 | Bheja Fry 2 | Ajit Talwar | |
Bhindi Bazaar | Shroff | ||
2012 | Chaalis Chouraasi | Albert Pinto | |
Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi | Salman | ||
Shahid | War saab | ||
2013 | Enemmy: | CID Officer Naeem Shaikh | |
ABCD: Any Body Can Dance | Jehangir Khan | ||
Udhayam NH4 | ACP Manoj Menon IPS | Tamil film | |
Ankur Arora Murder Case | Dr. Viren Asthana | ||
2014 | Raja Natwarlal | Vardha Yadav | |
Haider | Khurram Meer | Won—Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor [16] Won—IIFA Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role Nominated—BIG Star Entertainment Awards for Most Entertaining Actor in a Thriller Film – Male Nominated—IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Screen Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role Nominated—Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role Nominated—Stardust Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role | |
2015 | Baby | Bilal Khan | |
Rahasya | CBI Officer Sunil Paraskar | ||
Bombay Velvet | Investigative Officer Vishwas Kulkarni | ||
Singh Is Bliing | Mark | ||
2016 | A Flying Jatt | Mr. Rakesh Malhotra | |
Saat Uchakkey | Tejpal | ||
2017 | The Ghazi Attack | Captain Ranvijay Singh | Telugu and Hindi |
2018 | Dhaad | Ghelo | Gujarati; [17] released 17 years after being shot |
Vodka Diaries | ACP Ashwini Dixit | ||
Baa Baaa Black Sheep | ACP Shivraj Naik | ||
Phamous | Kadak Singh | ||
Ek Sangaychay | Marathi film | ||
2019 | Penalty | Vikram Singh | Netflix film |
2021 | Shaadisthan | Tiger Ji/Rajaji | Disney+ Hotstar |
2023 | Love All | Siddharth Sharma [18] |
Year | Show | Role |
---|---|---|
1995-1996 | Darr | Inspector Avinash |
1999 | Star Bestsellers - Zebra 2 | Captain Rajeev |
1999 | Star Bestsellers - Last Train to Mahakali | Sir |
2000 | Rishtey - Ward No. 6 | Rajat |
2001 | Pradhan Mantri | PM Anirudh Prakash |
2005 | Time Bomb 9/11 | Prime Minister of India |
2014 | Yudh | Municipal Commissioner |
Year | Title | Role | Platform | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | The Great Indian Dysfunctional Family | Vikram Ranaut | ALTBalaji | |||||
2020 | Special OPS | Himmat Singh | Disney Plus Hotstar | |||||
2021 | Ray | Inderashish [19] | Netflix | |||||
Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story | Himmat Singh | Disney Plus Hotstar | ||||||
2023 | Farzi | Mansoor Dalal | Amazon Prime Video | |||||
Bambai Meri Jaan | Ismail Kadri | |||||||
The Railway Men | Iftekaar Siddiqui | Netflix | – | Citadel India | Amazon Prime Video |
Year | Title |
---|---|
2019 | Sparsh |
2019 | The Last Chapter |
Irrfan Khan was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema, Khan's career spanned over 30 years and earned him numerous accolades, including a National Film Award, an Asian Film Award, and six Filmfare Awards. In 2011, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour. In 2021, he was posthumously awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sudhir Mishra is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for directing the films Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Dharavi and Chameli.
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language political drama film directed by Sudhir Mishra. The film was shot in 2003 but wasn't released until 2005. Set against the backdrop of the Indian Emergency, the movie tells the story of three young people in the 1970s, when India was undergoing massive social and political changes. The title is taken from a poem by Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib.
Chitrangda Singh is an Indian actress who works primarily in Hindi films. She made her acting debut with the crime drama Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005), for which she won the Bollywood Movie Award for Best Female Debut. She is also known for appearing in a variety of item numbers.
Shiney Suraj Ahuja is an Indian actor in Bollywood films. He won the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi in 2006 and then followed with several hit films like Gangster, Woh Lamhe, Life in a Metro, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, and Welcome Back.
Ruchi Narain is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer widely known as the writer for the critically acclaimed film Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003). She has also directed films like Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow (2005), Hanuman: Da' Damdaar (2017) and Netflix original film Guilty (2020).
Mumbai Meri Jaan is a 2008 Indian drama film directed by Nishikant Kamat and produced by Ronnie Screwvala. It stars R. Madhavan, Irrfan Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal and Kay Kay Menon. It deals with the aftermath of the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, where 209 people lost their lives and over 700 were injured. It won multiple Filmfare Awards.
Sandeep Kulkarni is an Indian actor who works in Hindi and Marathi films.
Anoop Menon is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and lyricist. He worked in television before acting in Malayalam films and has acted in more than 75 films.
Neeraj Pandey is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. Pandey made his directoral debut in A Wednesday!, which was largely praised by critics and which later became a recipient of many accolades. His second film was Special 26 (2013), which was followed by Baby (2015), the latter of which received critical acclaim and became a huge commercial success. He served as a producer in Rustom (2016). Pandey returned to directing in 2016 helming the biopic movie M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story based on Indian cricketer M.S.Dhoni which fared well critically and commercially. Besides being a filmmaker, Pandey is also a writer and has written a novel named Ghalib Danger in 2013.
Aditya Bhattacharya is an Indian film director and screenwriter, most known for his feature film, Raakh (1989), starring Aamir Khan and Pankaj Kapur, which garnered three National Film Awards.
Nivin Pauly is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is the recipient of several awards including two Kerala State Film Awards and three Filmfare South awards. He auditioned for and was cast in one of the main roles in Vineeth Sreenivasan's directorial debut Malarvaadi Arts Club in 2009 and got his breakthrough in the romantic film Thattathin Marayathu (2012).
Shiv Kumar Subramaniam was an Indian actor and screenwriter who is known for his role as the leading industrial tycoon I. M. Virani in the Indian television serial Mukti Bandhan on Colors channel. He is credited with writing the screenplay for the 1989 film Parinda, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and for the 2005 film Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, directed by Sudhir Mishra. He also appeared in supporting roles in both films. He died from an illness on 10 April 2022.
Karan Tacker is an Indian actor, model and host known for his portrayal of Viren Singh Vadhera in Star Plus's Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai and Farooq Ali in Hotstar's Special OPS. In 2014, he participated in Colors TV's Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7.
Zaira Wasim is an Indian former actress who worked in Hindi films. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a Filmfare Award and a National Film Award, Wasim was honoured with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in 2017.
Pradhan Mantri is an hour long weekly TV program broadcast on Zee TV in 2001. The show was conceptualized by well known editor-journalist M.J. Akbar and directed by Ketan Mehta and Shrivallabh Vyas.
Siddharth Menon is an Indian actor known for his work in film, television and theatre. He is best known for his roles in the films Loev (2015), Rajwade and Sons (2015) and Karwaan (2018) and the film June (2021) for which he won a National Film Award.
Special Ops is an Indian Hindi-language action espionage thriller series for Hotstar Specials created and directed by Neeraj Pandey, with Shivam Nair serving the credits for co-direction. Pandey also produced the series under his Friday Storytellers, a division of his production house, for providing content to the digital medium. It stars Kay Kay Menon as Himmat Singh, a member of Research and Analysis Wing, forms a team of five agents, in order to track down a person, who is the mastermind of the terror attacks which took place in India.
Kashmira Pardeshi is an Indian actress who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu language films. She made her acting debut with the Telugu film Nartanasala (2018), and Tamil with Sivappu Manjal Pachai (2019).
Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story is a Hindi action thriller fiction webseries created and directed by Neeraj Pandey for Disney+ Hotstar. The series is set inside the Special Ops Universe and stars Kay Kay Menon as Himmat Singh. The series premiered on 12 November 2021.
An actor to watch: Kay Kay Menon in "Pradhan Mantri". While the cynicism in this serial continues to be overstated through the second episode, this unusually tall actor who plays the pradhan mantri is a major saving grace. His lines could be better, but he mouths them with conviction. Looks like he will have to carry this serial on his shoulders.