Anoop Menon

In Ranjith's Thirakkatha, Anoop Menon played the film star Ajayachandran across different stages of his life, opposite Priyamani and Prithviraj Sukumaran, and the role won him the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Filmfare Award. Born in Kozhikode and raised in Thiruvananthapuram, he studied at Christ Nagar School and took his law degree at the Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram, finishing first in Kerala University. During college he compered on Kairali TV and Surya TV, and he and Shankar Ramakrishnan both trained under director Ranjith. Asianet television serials, among them Swapnam and Megham, came before Malayalam cinema. He acts, directs and writes screenplays and lyrics. His screenwriting debut was Pakal Nakshatrangal (2008), in which he played the son of Mohanlal's character. Screenplays and dialogue followed for Cocktail (2010), Beautiful (2011), Trivandrum Lodge (2012) and Hotel California (2013). He became a director with King Fish in 2021 and made Padma in 2022. At present he is in theatres in a lead role in the Malayalam film Chiram (2026).