{"id":7463,"date":"2016-06-25T17:53:43","date_gmt":"2016-06-25T12:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7463"},"modified":"2016-06-25T17:53:43","modified_gmt":"2016-06-25T12:23:43","slug":"the-unheralded-brilliance-of-kay-kay-menon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=7463","title":{"rendered":"The unheralded brilliance of Kay Kay Menon"},"content":{"rendered":"\nC<\/span>ertain actors go through life being brilliant at every step of the way, and yet underappreciated, or worse, untried for the many roles their potential promises to fulfill. When I watched Sudhir Mishra\u2019s Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi \u2013 on a grainy pirated print – I was struck by the raw, nubile magnetism of Kay Kay Menon. As a young activist who chooses to withdraw from all worldly addictions except that of change, Menon\u2019s Siddharth was a fascinating, volatile character. Because Menon arrived belatedly on our screens in the first decade of this millennium he was ushered to the curb by the presence of star acts \u2013 actors who had just learned that sporting a six-pack was somewhat, a compensation for their marginal acting skills. \n\nThe understated yet big-on-screen Menon would have, in an ideal world, been the OTT revolution\u2019s poster boy, the man who did sophisticated, diverse roles with the aplomb of a lamp illuminating a room that had begun to crumble long ago. A decade and a half on, the actor, easily one of India\u2019s best, remains curiously underused and worse, unheralded.\n\n

Because Menon arrived belatedly on our screens in the first decade of this millennium he was ushered to the curb by the presence of star acts \u2013 actors who had just learned that sporting a six-pack was somewhat, a compensation for their marginal acting skills. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nEven though Mishra\u2019s landmark film about student politics released belatedly in 2005, it was with the more mainstream Sarkar, that Menon truly made a mark. As the cocky, impulsive older brother to Abhishek Bachhan, Menon was quietly comprehensive and even scene-stealing in a role that cast him, plainly as the twisted, half-brother of the good side. Menon\u2019s pleasing gait means the antagonism he has to earn every time he works in a role that stretches the old Bollywood tropes of good and bad. \n\nIn Life in a Metro, Menon was coldly brilliant as a cheating, yet conflicted husband. In the same year he displayed considerable comic chops in his role in Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd. For his next landmark role, however, Menon had to wait almost a decade with Vishal Bharadwaj\u2019s Haider, where his caustic chemistry with Tabu was a thing to behold. \n\nSpecial Ops, Hotstar\u2019s surprise hit series cast Menon as Himmat Singh, a no-nonsense, RAW agent with a spine as straight as tomorrow\u2019s morning headline. It has taken almost two decades, but Himmat Singh has ultimately drawn the most out of Menon, in a series that really just toasts his effortless brilliance. Menon has done some challenging and conflicting roles like Gulaal and The Ghazi Attack, but nowhere has he been the centrepiece that everything else moves around. \n\nBelatedly, but deservedly he has been given that platform with Special Ops, a globetrotting series that though hit and miss with its espionage-y tropes, is subsequently a vehicle for Menon\u2019s talents, his ability to De Niro-like speak from the chin and not the rehearsed tongue. The emotion isn\u2019t delivered by animated theatrics but simply by the change of tone, pace or even something as slight as the pitch. In Special Ops you just can\u2019t get enough of Himmat putting corrupt or compromised officers in their place.\n\n

Curiously, and perhaps frustratingly Menon just hasn\u2019t been used by the film industry as he should have been.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nCuriously, and perhaps frustratingly Menon just hasn\u2019t been used by the film industry as he should have been. Alarmingly, even the OTT space that would at this moment throw a script at just about anyone who was at some point relevant in the industry, hasn\u2019t tapped Menon\u2019s stunning if small repertoire of work to the effect that Special Ops has. \n\nYou could argue that the Hotstar show seems the sum of its parts, only because Himmat Singh sits as the overlap of each, making sure the gravity of the moment, but also its tension is never lost on people. Incredibly, Menon achieves all of this by simply speaking into his phone with an earpiece. In its new season, where the series promises a more intimate look at Himmat and his history \u2013 with an intriguing role for the forgotten funny man Aftab Shivdasani \u2013 Menon will be showcasing a younger self of Himmat, an officer, adored and feared in equal measure.\n\nWhatever this new season of Special Ops offers, it will no doubt play to the tune of a flawlessly magnanimous Menon, quite literally shouldering the burden of an entire project, tying it all together, all of it without the hyphenated transitions from mode A to mode B. So joyous is Menon\u2019s portrayal of Himmat, you don\u2019t care what cases he handles or unravels, as long as he remains in his rebellious yet restrained element. \n\nCan you give a better compliment to an actor than to say it\u2019s him you want to watch something for, and not the other way around? If producers and directors are still reluctant to offer Menon the work he deserves and will most certainly do justice to, then we can surmise that to this diamond of acting, we are all, serviceable rough.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kay Kay Menon has been around for a long time and yet his work, especially his potential, has remained underused, and worse, unheralded. Let\u2019s hope that changes soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[29,8053,11459,8054,2870,11460],"class_list":["post-7463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-haider","tag-hazaaron-khwaishein-aisi","tag-himmat","tag-kay-kay-menon","tag-life-in-a-metro","tag-special-ops"],"yoast_head":"\nThe unheralded brilliance of Kay Kay Menon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kay Kay Menon has been around for a long time and yet his work, especially his potential, has remained underused, and worse, unheralded. 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