Salim Kumar

While studying at Maharajas College, Ernakulam, Salim Kumar won the Mahatma Gandhi University mimicry title three years in a row. The actor, comedian, director and writer (10 October 1969 – 6 June 2026) was born in Chittattukara, North Paravur, the youngest son in his family, and his work was mostly in Malayalam cinema. After college he performed mimicry with Cochin Kalabhavan and Cochin Sagar, spent four years in professional drama with Arathi Theatres in Kochi, and hosted the Asianet comedy show Comicola. Ishtamanu Nooru Vattam (1997) was his first film. Satyameva Jayathe (2000) got him noticed, and Rafi Meccartin's Thenkasipattanam was the breakthrough. Comic roles came in quick succession, often alongside Dileep, in films such as Ee Parakkum Thalika, Meesa Madhavan and Kalyanaraman. Later he played the novelist Manoharan Mangalodayam in Pokkiri Raja (2010) and Ashaan, a drunken bus mechanic, in Ordinary (2012). Over about three decades he acted in more than 300 films. Adaminte Makan Abu (2010) won him the National Film Award for Best Actor, and Achanurangatha Veedu (2005) the Kerala State award for Second Best Actor. Karutha Joothan, which he directed, received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Story in 2017, and he won a Kerala State Television Award for Best Actor in 2013. His son, Chandu Salimkumar, is also an actor.