'They avoided me for reasons unknown, felt totally isolated'

The famous dialogue and scene from the movie Rasikan have been recreated countless times over the years through reels and YouTube shorts. The one scene would be enough for Malayalees to recognise Hari Murali, the child actor who dominated the Malayalam cinema between 2005 and 2010.

While offers came his way following success in movies such as Rasikan and Annan Thampi, Hari decided to take a hiatus and focus more on studies. He completed his higher education in Bengaluru and shifted to UAE. It was only recently that he returned to Kerala to work as a VFX artist.

After the reel of the scene went viral recently, Instagram searched for the youngster, and Hari thus came to the limelight after years. This led to an interview with an online portal, and Hari even had the chance to interact with actor Dileep nearly 15 years after the release of the movie Rasikan.

Hari Murali:

“My father had a theatre background, and it all started when I went to appear in just one scene in a drama written by my father. This led to roles in serials, and in no time, I was working in movies too. I was just six years old when I acted in Rasikan. The famous dialogue in the movie was an impromptu added by actor Dileep, which resulted in the scene going viral. The single scene alone gave me an identity.

However, being an actor had a tough toll on me since childhood. The children near my home would not call me to play. At school, nobody talked to me, and I had to sit isolated. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because of the fear of coming and talking with me since I acted in movies, and they might have thought me a haughty figure. I was too young to understand all this, and it affected me emotionally. This led me to take a break from cinema.”

Hari Murali, who started his career in the Malayalam film industry as a child artist, was found dead at his home in Annur in Payyannur. The body has been shifted to a private hospital in Payyannur. The real cause of death has not been revealed yet. He has acted as a child artist in around fifty films, including Rasikan, Annan Thampi and Madambi. He was working as a VFX artist.

He is the son of the famous theatre actor Payyannur Murali. He entered the acting field at the age of four through A M Nazeer’s serial. His film debut was in Rasikan, directed by Lal Jose. He took a break from films for some time to study. He was later seen in Nadirsha’s film Amar Akbar Anthony.