From Devi to the On-Going Charismatic On Screen Presence Now- Shiju Rasheed

The field of cinema is as wide as an infinite sky and filled with the ups and downs as the mountains, from the junior stars who act for five hundred rupees to the stars who buy thousands, lakhs, and crores. When you see these stars from the earth, they all have the same brightness! A real actor who entertains the audience by happily trying up all the roles he got without being overwhelmed by the ups and downs of the film, without a Godfather to name, the hero of a film that came to the cinema at a very young age, gone through all the difficulties experienced by ordinary moviegoers and went into another unfamiliar language and acted in a movie which ran for almost a year acted in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, English, and Oriya- Shiju Rasheed. Let’s go through the success story of Shiju Rasheed (Devi Shiju)

Casting time of the movie “Kabooliwala”. The young man was overjoyed to hear his friends and moviegoers close to Siddique-Lal say, “You will be the hero in Kabooliwala.” It is no small feat to get such a hero entry in their film when Siddique-Lal combo was shining during that time. The young man had a lot of dreams about the movie in which he would be the hero. But all the dreams of that young man had only the life of firefly. Actor Vineeth came to the place where the young man wanted to go. When all that he dreamt of became in vein, the young man had the grief that any normal human being would have. Sadness then became the urge to get into the movies somehow. Shiju also came to the metropolis of Chennai, which was visited by an average film lover who was obsessed with cinema at that time. While traveling to Chennai, the young man had only a strong desire to act, not to mention his great artistic talents and experience in acting even in small plays. The only two things he was confident about were his flawless shape and 6 feet 2 inches tall height. It was in that belief that the search began. Shiju had to go through the same ordeal that every person would experience in those days to get a chance in cinema. After a flurry of despair, a glimmer of hope appeared before him. He also got a role in “The City” directed by I V Shashi. He waited for that moment when the camera turned towards him with hope again.

He eagerly learned the lesson of the dialogue to be spoken in the scene told to him and waited for the scene. Shiju was told the scene inside a house wherein it also includes a series of dialogues with his mother, father, and brother standing in front of him after washing his face from the washbasin inside the house. He handled the scene with the necessary confidence. Curiosity filled his mind as to what I V Shashi Sir’s opinion would have been. But to the shock of everyone, I V Shashi walked out of the set. He did not understand what was going on for a while, until after a while he was shocked to hear the news from Shajoon Karyal, I V Sasi’s assistant. This time the villain was his height that had boosted Shiju’s confidence.

Shajoon’s words that he will look into the next film were sad as he has no match with the people who act as his family members due to his height. Shiju cried all day long. Many, including his brother and friends, stood by him to confidently lead the way back to the path of desire. Meanwhile, he was able to act as a junior artist in a film by I V Sasi. Later, he came to the office of GK Reddy, a great Tamil producer, through a friend. Shiju did a good job of memorizing the Tamil dialogue he got to attend the audition for Reddy’s new film. Debuted as a villain in the movie “Mahaprabhu” starring Sarath Kumar.GK Reddy suggested a name for the young man who was about to enter the world of cinema. His youngest son made his debut as “Vishal”, a young Tamil actor of today. While acting in the film, he befriended Rajan P Dev and on his recommendation, he got the opportunity to act in the Malayalam film Mazhavilkoodaram directed by Siddique Shameer. The film was Shiju’s first foray into Malayalam. When the Tamil “Mahaprabhu” became an essential hit, another opportunity came to Shiju from Telugu in search of him. Legendary director Kodi Ramakrishna, who has made a strong mark in the history of Telugu cinema, has been invited to play the lead role in his 125th film ‘Devi’. At the same time, Shiju got the chance to play the lead in Siddique Shameer’s third film Ishtamannu Nooruvattam. Interestingly, the pooja of both the films was a day. That too in two studios in Chennai. The worship of the Goddess took place in a cosmic manner. Prominent personalities including Ram Gopal Varma and Chiranjeevi came to welcome the young man to the world of Telugu cinema. During the pooja, he met the producer, got permission, and attended the pooja of the film ‘ishatamann nooruvattam’. In Malayalam, he was called Shiju Rasheed and in Telugu, he was called “Devi Shiju”. Prominent Music Director Sriprasad, who is now known as “DSP” in South India, made his debut as “Devi Sri Prasad” through Devi.

Although the two films started shooting together, the shooting of the first film ishatamann nooruvattam got over. While starring in Devi, Shiju received about a dozen films from Tamil and filled his call sheet throughout the year. Now his mind was on the excitement of being the next superstar himself.

But the verdict was different. Things changed when the labor struggles among Tamil filmmakers changed. Until then, producers who were keen to welcome new actors began to confine themselves to the theatrical value of Rajini, Kamal, Sarath Kumar, and Murali. All the roles given to newcomer Shiju Rasheed were canceled.

The colorful spectacles of the film were so intense that he could not bear to see the light in front of him and the sudden darkness appeared. The shooting of Devi, which he was acting in Telugu, took almost three years and the producer had to sell most of the things for the film to complete the shoot. In the meanwhile, IshtamannNooruvattam has been released in Malayalam. The film received rave reviews but failed to create as many of his own as the protagonist.

But the Telugu Devi was released with all the obstacles cleared. The film went on to be screened in Telugu as one of the blockbusters for almost a year as Devi. And thus Shiju became Devi Shiju. While doing a few pictures confirming in Telugu, he got a back injury during a movie fight with Ravi Teja. He dislocated five discs and was on bed rest for a year. The condition was to start from scratch.

But he was not ready to give up. During many of his interviews, he had been asked whether he regrets not being able to reach the heights he wanted? Let’s say that by strongly disagreeing with that question.

The actor, who spontaneously starred in the 2002 English film “In the name of Buddha” and had gone to international film festivals such as “Oslo film festival”, has yet to see the heights that many celebrities have seen. Stargazing should not be seen in comparisons of heights. On the other hand, under the banner of Pegasus Global Pvt, he will be playing the lead role in the movie “August 27” directed by Ajit Ravi.

Pic Courtesy: google/ images are subject to copyright