Guinness Pakru
Ajay Kumar (born 31 August 1976), popularly known as Guinness Pakru, is an Indian actor. He has made an entry into the Guinness World Records for being the shortest actor (2 ft 6 in (76 cm))[1] to play a character in a full-length film. He played the lead role in Athbhutha Dweepu, a Malayalam movie directed by Vinayan. The movie was later dubbed in Tamil.
Guinness Pakru | |
---|---|
Born | Ajay Kumar 31 August 1976 |
Nationality | Indian |
Other names | Undapakru |
Occupation | |
Years active | 1984–present |
Notable work | Athbhutha Dweepu directed by Vinayan |
Spouse(s) | Gayathri Mohan (m. 2006) |
Children | Deeptha Keerthi |
Parent(s) |
|
Awards |
The film Athbhutha Dweepu starred him as dwarf prince Gajendra of the kingdom Vamanapuri on a fantasy island, where the men were cursed to be dwarfs and women were of normal height. Around 300 dwarves acted in that film.[2][3] In 2013, Pakru made his directorial debut with the film Kutteem Kolum.
Early life
He was born Ajay Kumar, as the eldest son, of Radhakrishna Pillai and Ambujakshiyamma, on 31 August 1976 at his father's home in Mulavana, Kundara. His father was an auto driver and mother was an L.I.C agent who also worked at a telephone service agency on contract. Soon after his birth his family moved to Kottayam. Since his mother was often transferred they moved from one place to other and finally settled at Pandavam, Aymanam, Kerala.[4] He has two younger sisters, Kavitha and Sangeetha.[5]
He studied at C.M.S L.P School, Chalukunnu until fourth grade[6] and at C.M.S High School, Olassa until S.S.L.C.[7] Then he joined Baselius College, Kottayam and completed his pre degree and graduation from there. He is a BA graduate in economics and has a diploma in computer science.
He started his career as a mimicry artist and later moved to films. He worked as a mimicry artist in mimicry troupes like Mangalam Mimics, Nadirsha's Cochin Universal and Kottayam Nazeer's Cochin Discovery.[8] By age 18 he had completed 1000 mimicry stages.
He debuted through the children's film Ambili Ammavan (The Moon) in 1984. He now also acts in TV serials.
Personal life
Pakru married Gayathri Mohan in March 2006.[9][10] They have a daughter, Deeptha Keerthi, born on 14 April 2009.[11] Pakru once said that Deeptha Keerthi was actually his second daughter. Before her, there was a daughter who lived only for two weeks.
Transformation to director
Pakru became a director with the 2013 Malayalam movie Kutteem Kolum, in which he also played the lead role in the movie. He may be the shortest director in filmdom. The film starred Aditya, Sanusha, Laya, Munna, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Vijayaraghavan and Ponnamma Babu. The camera was handled by Vinod Bharathi and music by Shaan Rahman.
Honours and awards
Pakru made an entry into the Guinness World Records for being the shortest lead actor (2 ft 6 in (76 cm)) to play a character in a full-length film. His accomplishment is cited on the 167th page of the 2008 edition of the Guinness World Records. He was also presented with a Kerala State Film Award and a special Tamil Nadu State Film Award for his performance in the film Dishyum in 2006.[12][13]
- Guinness Book of Records (2008 edition) - shortest actor to play a lead character in a full-length movie
- Guinness Book of Records (2013 edition) - shortest film director in the world to direct a full-length movie
- Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize (2006) - Dishyum
- Movie Street Film Awards (2020)-Best Actor- Special Jury(Ilayaraja)
Filmography
As actor
- Malayalam
- Ambili Ammavan (1985)....as Undapakru
- Ithaa Samayamaayi (1987)
- Antharjanam (1989)....Pakru
- Joker (2000)....as Joker
- Basket (2002)
- Kunjikoonan (2002)....as Suhasini
- Meesha Madhavan (2002)
- Malsaram (2003)....as Induchoodan
- Athbhutha Dweepu (2005)....as Prince Gajendran (Kerala State Film Award (Special Jury Award) in 2005)
- Manikyan (2005)....as Watchman
- Kilukkam Kilukilukkam (2006)
- Athisayan (2007)
- Mulla (2008)....Chandran
- Twenty:20 (2008)....as a worker in Tea shop
- Ee Pattanathil Bhootham (2009)....as Balan
- Sivapuram (2009)
- Puthiya Mukham (2009)
- Loudspeaker (2009)....as an agent
- Bodyguard (2010)....as Kudamaloor Balaji
- My Big Father (2010)....as Kunjumon
- Swantham Bharya Zindabad (2010)....as Vettoor Sivankutty
- Note Out (2011)
- Payyans (2011)
- Venicile Vyapari (2011)....as Kochukrishnan
- Rathinirvedam (2011)
- Killadi Raman (2011)....as Bada Bhai
- Snake & Ladder (2012)
- Perinoru Makan (2012)....as Murugan
- My Fan Ramu (2013)
- Housefull (2013)....as Dr. Shenayi
- Kutteem Kolum (2013)....as Vinayakan
- Immanuel (2013)....as Kannadi Kavi Shivan
- Abhiyum Njanum (2013)....as Veerabhadran
- Ring Master (2014)....as Achankunju
- 6 (2015).....as Vedalam
- 3 Wicketinu 365 Runs (2015)
- Punyalan Private Limited (2017)....as Bank Manager
- Ilayaraja (2019)
- Fancy Dress (2019)
- Mr. Pavanayi 99.99 (2019)
- Veerapakru (2020)
- Tamil
- Dishyum (2006) ....as Amitabh (Tamil Nadu State Film Award (Special Prizes))
- Arputha Theevu (2007)....as Kajendran
- Thalai Ezhuthu (2009).... as Kirthik
- Kaavalan (2011)
- 7aum Arivu (2011)
- Ariyaan (2012)
As director
- Kuttiyum Kolum (2013)
As producer
- Fancy Dress' (2019)
Television
- Serials
- Savari Girigiri (Surya TV)[14]
- Tom and Jerry (Asianet)
- Vallabhan C/O Vallabhan
- Cinemala (Asianet)
- Five Star Thattukada (Asianet)
- Shows
- Chirikum Pattanam (Kairali TV)
- Comedy Festival (Mazhavil Manorama)
- Pokeeri Peekiri (Asianet Plus)
- Kuttykalavara (Flowers)
- Komedy Circus (Mazhavil Manorama)
- Comedy Utsavam (Flowers)
- Thakarppan Comedy (Mazhavil Manorama)
References
- "Indian comedy star Ajay Kumar is world's smallest actor". The Daily Telegraph. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
- "Undapakru, shortest actor". MSN India. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008.
- "shortest actor". Yahoo! Movies News. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008.
- "Mangalam-varika-18-Mar-2013". mangalamvarika.com. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
- V. N. Rakhi (14 August 2014). "അമൃതമായി അഭയമായി അമ്മ". manoramaonline.com. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- "എനിക്കൊരു പരിപാടി നടത്തണം". mangalamvarika.com. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- "മിഠായികള് തന്ന കസേര". Mangalamvarika: 24. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- "ജയസുര്യയുടെ ദുരിതകാലം". mangalamvarika. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- "Kerala's dwarf hero weds tall princess". Deccan Herald.
- "Short hero, Undapakru ties a tall knot". My-Kerala.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "UndaPakru' enters Guinness book". keralamax.
- "Undapakru in Guinness book". BizHat.
- "ജീവിതം മാറ്റിമറിച്ച അത്ഭുതദ്വീപ്". mangalam varika. 10 June 2013. p. 37. Retrieved 15 August 2014.