Namo Narayana plays Pazhakkadai Moorthy in Jailer 2, and the role has quietly become one of the most talked-about parts of Rajinikanth's sequel. Since the film's release on October 15, viewers on social media have been asking Nelson Dilipkumar for a Moorthy spin-off, or a full comedy with Namo in the lead.
The scene everyone mentions
Most of the attention has gone to Moorthy's first-half scenes, especially a chess game with Dileep, the villain played by Suraj Venjaramoodu. We are not going further into the scene to avoid spoilers.
Cut once, back now
There is a twist to the role. Namo appeared in the same look in the release announcement video for Jailer (2023), but he was not in the finished film. Whether that was Moorthy too has not been confirmed by Nelson.
This time the cuts went the other way. Mohanlal's costume designer Jishad Shamsudeen has said three of Mathew's looks were dropped from Jailer 2, as covered in our Jishad Shamsudeen story. So the sequel made room for an actor Jailer left out, while trimming the character Jailer made famous.
From software to Naadodigal
Namo worked as a software engineer before films. He came to Samuthirakani's Naadodigal (2009) as its executive producer, and has said in interviews that Samuthirakani and Sasikumar persuaded him to act in it.
That role started a long run in Tamil cinema, with films such as Easan, Poraali, Kutti Puli, Komban, Rajini Murugan, Viswasam and Raayan.
His Malayalam films
Malayalam audiences have seen him before. His first Malayalam film was Johny Antony's Thappana (2012), starring Mammootty. He reunited with Johny Antony for Bhaiyya Bhaiyya (2014), with Kunchacko Boban and Biju Menon.
He was also in Lijo Jose Pellissery's Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023), again with Mammootty.
Also read: Joby Kodakara deletes Jailer 2 post on doubling for Mohanlal
