Siddique

Siddique (born 1 October 1962 ) is an Indian actor and producer, who works mainly in Malayalam cinema.

Along with appearing in over 350 Malayalam films, he has also acted in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi language films.

He is known for having played a wide range of starring and supporting roles, including comic characters, romantic leads, anti-heroes and villains.

Siddique was born on 1 October 1962 at Edavanakkad, in Ernakulam, Kerala, India.

He was the youngest child in a family of three with an elder brother and a sister.

He did his primary schooling in his hometown, Edavanakkad and completed a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Government Polytechnic College, Kalamassery.

He then worked as an Electrical Engineer at Kerala State Electricity Board division at Thrissur, Kerala.

After a few years of service at KSEB, he flew abroad to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and worked there for a few more years.

His elder brother Abdul Majeed is also an actor who appears in Malayalam films.

His son Shaheen Siddique is also an actor, who appears predominantly in Malayalam films.

Siddique started his career in the late 1980s with minor roles.

Siddique made his acting debut with the film Aa Neram Alppa Dooram (1985).

He got a break with the comedy film In Harihar Nagar (1990).

Due to its success, He acted in a variety of comic roles during the early-1990s in films such as Godfather, Manthrikacheppu, Simhavalan Menon, Kasargode Khadarbhai, Thiruthalvaadi, Mughamudra, Kunukkitta Kozhi, and Welcome to Kodaikanal.

His major break came in 1990 when, along with Mukesh, Jagadeesh, and Asokan, he was cast as one of the heroes in In Harihar Nagar.

The movie, directed by Siddique and Lal, went on to become a huge box office success, starting a streak of similar low-budget comedy movies featuring the cast.

Siddique became an essential part of such movies along with Mukesh and Jagadeesh.

The mid-1990s did not go well for Siddique as a number of personal problems affected his career.

He made a comeback in the late 1990s with supporting roles in Asuravamsam with Manoj K. Jayan, and in Lelam and Crime File (both with Suresh Gopi).

These films ensured his return to the mainstream.

In Sathyameva Jayathe, he played a cold-blooded villain with Suresh Gopi.

Following the success of this film, Siddique was offered a number of opportunities to play villains.

During this period, he also acted in television serials.

His role in Sthree with Vinaya Prasad was a huge hit among Malayalam television audiences.

He also anchored a musical programme called Sallapam on Doordarshan.

Films in the genre included Manthrikacheppu (1992), Simhavalan Menon (1995), Kasargode Khadarbhai (1992), Thiruthalvaadi (1992), Mughamudra (1992), Kunukkitta Kozhi (1992), Mookkillarajyathu (1991), Mimics Parade (1991), Grihapravesam, Welcome to Kodaikanal (1992), Kavadiyattam (1993), Kaattile Thadi Thevarude Ana (1995), Marupuram (1990), Varaphalam (1994), Mukha Chithram (1991) and Kinnaripuzhayoram (1994).

He was cast alongside leading actresses of the time like Parvathy, Shobana, Sunitha, Mathu, and Suchithra.

His performance in Godfather by Siddique-Lal was positively received by Malayalam movie viewers.

Siddique also did action roles in some films.

For example, there is the case of Ayalathe Adheham, where he was actually the villain only to be revealed at the climax of the movie.

In Ekalavyan he played the role of Sarath, a young police officer, supporting Suresh Gopi.

His talent lies in how an actor should keep reinventing to be in Malayalam movie biz - learning from his experience and mistakes.

His career curve shows a good inclination towards adapting to a variety roles - comedy, villain, character roles and so on.

He is one among the artists who rose from junior artist level to a major actor with his talent and hard work.

Siddique has also anchored other musical programmes including Sangeetha Samagamam in Amrita TV and Symphony in Kairali TV, in the 2000s.

Siddique turned to more serious roles with Asuravamsam and Lelam. He also did a notable villain role in Sathyameva Jayathe (2001), which led to a succession of similar roles.

Siddique ventured into production by co-producing the film Nandanam (2002) under Bhavana Cinema.

In 2002, he produced Nandanam, directed by Ranjith.

In 2004, he was awarded the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Sasneham Sumitra and Choonda.

In 2013, he received the Nandi Special Jury Award for Naa Bangaaru Talli.