Dulquer Salmaan reveals his father Mammootty refused to 'call in favours' for him

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As Malayalam superstar Dulquer Salmaan gears up for his upcoming action thriller King of Kotha, the global Malayalam cinema community is buzzing with anticipation.

Fans cannot wait to see their favourite actor rule the big screens as the film, directed by Abhilash Joshiy, prepares for its global premiere on August 24. But did you know acting wasn’t Dulquer’s first choice? The 37-year-old revealed this in a recent interview with a local media outlet.

Dulquer, who is megastar Mammootty’s son, said he didn’t want to be “the kid who messes up his father’s reputation”. The actor added that since childhood he was clear about one thing — “not joining the showbiz world”.

“And I tried to stay away as far as possible because I realised that anything that I do in movies will be compared to my dad and I would definitely ruin his reputation. He is not just an actor, it’s even the way he conducts himself and I didn’t want to be that kid who messes it up,” he said.

Dulquer also opened up about his family’s reaction to the idea of him joining the industry. He said, “So I had a big breakdown moment where I told my folks, I want to give acting a shot. And my dad was like, I am not going to do anything for you. I am not going to call in favours. Nobody helped me, so you are going to have to figure it out yourself.”

The actor also revealed that his elder sister Kutty Surumi was supportive of his decision. She found an acting course for Dulquer in Bombay.

He said, “My elder sister went online, found a course in Bombay and that week itself, I left with a demand draft to apply for acting school.” Before joining the film industry, Dulquer had tried his hands at a nine-to-five job in the management sector.

Dulquer, in the same interview, said that he never thought that he had a “chance in movies because, in the traditional Malayalam film industry, there was no concept of second-generation actors.”

King Of Kotha also features Aishwarya Lekshmi and Ritika Singh.

Dulquer was last seen in Raj and DK’s Guns & Gulaabs. It is currently streaming on Netflix. Rajkummar Rao, Adarsh Gourav, Satish Kaushik and Vipin Sharma are also part of the show.