Saju Navodaya

Pappanikunnel Thankappan Saju (born 14 October 1977), better known by his stage name Saju Navodaya, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Malayalam films, television and stage. He began his career as a comedian on stage shows and later forayed into television and into films.[1] Since January 2020, he has been contesting in the second season of Malayalam reality TV show Bigg Boss, he became the Captain of Bigg Boss house four times.

Saju Navodaya
Saju during Kairali TV event in Doha, 2016
Born	P. T. Saju (1977-10-14) 14 October 1977 Udayamperoor, Ernakulam district, Kerala, India
Other names	Pashanam Shaji
Occupation	Actor comedian mimicry artist
Years active	2014 – present
Spouse(s)	Resmi

Personal life

Saju Navodaya was born sixth among nine children to Pappanikunnel Thankappan and Manka at Udayamperoor, Kochi in Kerala, India.[2] He did his schooling at SNDP HSS, Udayamperoor. He was a regular participant in almost all the competitions in school youth festivals. Saju has directed many dramas which won prizes in Ernakulam district level youth festivals in late 1990s. He studied at Sree Rama Varma Government Sanskrit College, Thrippunithura before starting a dance institute in Udayamperoor to teach classical and cinematic dance.[3] He is also an ardent follower of sports and enjoys playing Cricket and Association football. He has organized and managed sports teams, sports clubs and sports events, such as cricket and football tournaments. Saju Navodaya is married to Resmi, a trained classical dancer.

Career

Saju began his career as an amateur mimicry artist performing in stage shows for some local clubs and festivals in his hometown. A professional mimicry artist Manoj Guinness gave him an opportunity in his professional mimicry troupe in Kochi named Cochin Navodaya. Later on, Saju's name was changed to Saju Navodaya after associating with the troupe.[4] He was known for imitating actors that made him a regular performer during stage shows presented by his troupe in India and abroad.

Saju Navodaya's talent was recognized by major television channels. He got opportunities to performs in many television shows, which made him popular among the family audience. He was part of many reality shows in which he portrayed the character 'Pashanam Shaji', that eventually became his stage name. His performance in comedy shows like 'Comedy Stars' was widely accepted by prime time television viewers and helped him to receive offers from the Malayalam film industry.

Saju Navodaya debuted in the Malayalam film industry with the 2014 movie Mannar Mathai Speaking 2 directed by Mamas. He went on to act in superhit movies likes Vellimoonga, Ivan Maryadaraman, and Amar Akbar Anthony. He became a playback singer with the movie Aadupuliyattam in which he also played a major role. His first film in a lead role was the 2018 movie Karinkannan. His future projects include his debut movie as scriptwriter named Panavally Pandavas, which is scheduled to go on floors by mid-2020.

As of 2020, Saju is the Captain of the Mimicry Artists Association Fighter (MAA Fighters), a team in the Celebrity Cricket Fraternity (CCF), a Cricket league that includes film actors, directors, assistant directors, musicians, producers, choreographers, television actors, mimicry artistes, and media professionals.[5] In January 2020, he entered as a contestant in the second season of the 15 week-long Malayalam reality television show Bigg Boss (Malayalam season 2), broadcast on Asianet and hosted by actor Mohanlal. He was elected as the Captain of the Bigg Boss house four times, in week 2, 6, 7, and 8.[6]

Filmography

Films

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Role	Director	Note
2014	Mannar Mathai Speaking 2	Thief	Mamas
	Vellimoonga	Kochappy	Jibu Jacob
	Little Superman
2015	Mariyam Mukku	Nazerath	James Albert
	Ivan Maryadaraman	Traveler in train	Suresh Divakar
	Bhaskar The Rascal	Vikraman	Siddique
	Oru Second Class Yathra	Biju	Jexson Antony & Rejis Antony
	Thinkal Muthal Velli Vare	Jayadevan's Helper	Kannan Thamarakkulam
	Acha Dhin	Police Officer	G Marthandan
	Jamna Pyari	Sreenivasan	Thomas Sebastian
	Utopiayile Rajavu		Kamal
	Life of Josutty	Rameshan	Jeethu Joseph
	Pathemari	Narayanan's Roommate	Salim Ahamed
	Amar Akbar Anthony	Rejimon	Nadirshah
2016	Kattumakkan		Shalil Kallur
	Hallelooya	Uthaman	Sudhi Anna
	Aadupuliyattam	Saju	Kannan Thamarakkulam
	Marubhoomiyile Aana	Kamal's asst	V. K. Prakash
	Thoppil Joppan	Eldho	Johny Antony
2017	Achayans		Kannan Thamarakkulam
2018	Kalyanam	Panchayath Member	Rajesh Nair
	Ladoo	TBA	Arungeorge K David
	Karinkannan	Das	Pappan Narippatta	Leading role
2019	Old is Gold		Prakash Kunjhan Moorayil
	Prakashante Metro		Haseena Suneer
	March Randam Vyazham		Jahangir Ummar
	Vattamesha Sammelanam		Vipin Atley
	Mattoru Kadavil Kuliscene 2		Rahul K. Shaji	Short film debut
2020	Panavally Pandavas		Himself	Debut as writer and director

Television

• Comedy Festival
• Comedy Stars season 1
• Comedy Super Nights 2
• Kaliyil Alpam Kaaryam
• Tamaar Pataar
• Comedy Stars Plus
• Onam Upperi season 3
• Nalla Best Family
• 2020: Bigg Boss (Malayalam season 2)

Playback singer

No.	Year	Song	Film	Co-singers	Language	Music	Notes
1	2016	"Manja Kattil Pokande"	Aadupuliyattam	Jayaram, Ramesh Pisharody	Malayalam	Ratheesh Vegha

Awards

No.	Year	Organization	Category	Movie	Language	Place	Notes
1	2015	Ramu Karyat Film Awards	Best Comedian	Multiple movies	Malayalam	Kerala
2	2016	Asianet Comedy Awards	Most Promising Actor	Multiple movies	Malayalam	Kerala

References

1. "Saju Navodaya". Filmibeat.
2. Mangalam.com
3. "Manam Pole Mangalyam: Pashanam Shaji & Reshmi". jaihind.tv. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
4. Manoramaonline.com
5. Anand, Shilpa Nair (20 February 2020). "Malayalam film and media celebrities come together to form a league, Celebrity Cricket Fraternity to play cricket". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
6. "Bigg Boss Malayalam 2 update, Day 7: Saju Navodaya becomes the new captain". The Times of India. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.

External links

• Saju Navodaya on IMDb