Kannur man plays PM in Kannada film

Last year, Ramachandran Nair, who was waiting at Payyannur railway station to board a train to Bengaluru, didn’t imagine his life would change in a few hours. Someone took his photograph seeing his uncanny resemblance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and uploaded it on the internet. Within no time, he became an internet sensation.

Soon, media started reporting about Nair, who is a native of Payyannur, Kannur. And in less than a year, he is turning an actor, playing PM Modi. It was an interview that he gave for a television channel that landed him in tinsel town.

Ramachandran, who is making his acting debut in the Kannada movie Statement 8/11, says everything happened unexpectedly. “I have a few scenes in the movie. I deliver the statement speech. There is also a scene of the Prime Minister meeting his mother,” says 64-year-old Ramachandran, who has worked in Bombay for 30 years and then in the Gulf before returning home.

People have mistaken him for Modi many times before. “I travel a lot. People observe me, and sometimes take selfies with me.” The offer to act in the movie directed by Appi Prasad was unexpected for him. “The shooting of the film was in Bengaluru and Coorg. The whole crew was supportive,” he says.

Ramachandran doesn’t like doing anything that disgraces the Prime Minister. So he has denied offers from television comedy shows before. “I don’t want to do such shows,” says Ramachandran.

“As a child, I yearned to act in cinema. But, that desire got washed away in life’s struggles. Now, at this age, God has granted my wish. I am happy,” Ramachandran concludes.