Saiju Kurup

Saiju Kurup is a Malayalam actor with more than 150 films behind him, moving between lead roles, comedy and character parts over two decades. Born on 12 March 1979 in Cherthala and raised in Nagpur, he studied engineering and was working in sales when he auditioned for Hariharan's Mayookham (2005), which became his debut as the male lead. His comic turn as Shibu Vellayini in Trivandrum Lodge (2012) was his breakthrough and moved him away from the clean-cut parts he had played until then. He went on to play Pappan in 1983 (2014), Vijith in Theevandi (2018) and Johny Peringodan in Driving Licence (2019), and he has also worked in Tamil films such as Thani Oruvan (2015). His best-known role is the hot-tempered Arakkal Abu in the Aadu series. He first played Abu in Aadu (2015), returned in Aadu 2 (2017) and came back again in Aadu 3 (2026), where he also took on a second role as the commander Padanayakan Koma Kurup. He has led films such as Guardian (2021), Upacharapoorvam Gunda Jayan (2022), Porattu Nadakam (2024) and Abhilasham (2025), played the title role in the streaming series Jai Mahendran (2024), and turned producer with Bharathanatyam (2024), in which he also starred. In 2026 he played the police officer heading a death investigation in Aaram. Two new films are lined up. He leads Bafana United, directed by Nazer Irimbiliyam and Dr Haris KT, whose first look came out in October 2026. He has also finished shooting an untitled comedy thriller written and directed by Sagar and produced by Arun Gopy, in which he plays the private detective Chandikunju.