Meet Padmakumar Nair, once Thiruvananthapuram’s own Michael Jackson

Those who have watched Moonwalk may not forget the police officer, SI Saji, who takes the young dancers to task and makes them cut their long hair short at his station. He is Padmakumar Nair, Thiruvananthapuram’s own Michael Jackson.

Cut to 1988-91, when he was a student of Mar Ivanios College. “Once I got wet in the rain and then a friend remarked that I looked like MJ. Till then I hadn’t followed him that well. To start with, I watched ‘Bad’ and started imitating him. I started growing my hair as well. But, someone commented that even though I looked like him, I couldn’t dance. So I took a VCR on rent and watched ‘Thriller’ repeatedly to learn the moves. That was the beginning. Later I choreographed ‘Billie Jean’ and performed at the college,” he remembers.

He was always on his own and did not perform with any group. “I have no background in dance. I just did what I liked. I designed the costume and did my make-up.” He tried his hand at singing MJ’s songs as well.

He never did any shows outside the college and stuck to MJ’s moves only. However, once he moved to Bengaluru [then Bangalore] to pursue MBA, he performed at a few five star hotels there. In 2010, he moved to the US and returned in 2019 after working as a banker. “A memorable moment was when I danced on the streets of New York in 2010. It was a dream-come-true occasion.”

Acting was a passion for him and he did small roles in a few films and acted in serials before moving to the US. “After coming back, my first audition was for Moonwalk. It felt good to act as a police officer after playing a goonda in several films.” He also won family audience with his police character in the daily soap, Kudumbavilakku. He has acted in 10 films, which include Satyameva Jayathe, Nammal Thammil, Krithyam, Kappa, Rani, A Ranjith Cinema etc and his forthcoming release is Thimingalavetta.

Recalling his first shot for Moonwalk, Padmakumar says, “It was the scene in which the boys are whizzing past me on their bikes. That was pretty nostalgic since I used to go on such a bike to college.”

During the pre-release promotions of Moonwalk, he put on the dancing shoes again. “I am fit enough to do the moves and remember most of the steps,” he says.

Moonwalk is streaming on JioHotstar.