My cover feature in Deccan Chronicle. It appeared on the Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram editions on Jan 29, 2016. The article runs on Page 17 and continues on Page 19. Jan 29, 2016 - Cover Feature byline

1. AANNJJAALLII DDAASS
‘Cosplay in
India has come
a long way over
the last few
years, and
people are really
starting to
appreciate it as
an art’
KABALI
SETS NEW
RECORD IN
THE US
kerala
Singer Najim Arshad has lent voice to
his second Hindi song — a lullaby —
for the upcoming TV series Tamanna
CinemayaCinemaya
NAJIM IN
LULLABY MODE
CHRONICLEFFRRIIDDAAYY2299 || JJAANNUUAARRYY 22001166
NNIITTIINN SSIISSUUPPAALLAANN
DDEECCCCAANN CCHHRROONNIICCLLEE
AAss tthhee vvoottiinngg ffoorr tthhee bbeesstt ccooss--
ppllaayyeerrss iinn tthhee ccoouunnttrryy
cclloosseedd eeaarrlliieerr tthhiiss wweeeekk,,
MMaallaayyaalliiss ccaann bbee pprroouudd ooff tthhrreeee
hheeaavvyywweeiigghhttss wwhhoo rraammmmeedd
tthheeiirr wwaayy iinnttoo tthhee lliisstt ooff ffiinnaall--
iissttss,, aass wweellll aass tthhee IInnddiiaann ppoopp
ccuullttuurree sscceennee wwiitthh tthheeiirr ccrreeaattiivv--
iittyy aanndd ttaalleenntt..
FFoorr NNaaddiirr NNaajjuummaall HHuussssaaiinn,, aann
aarrcchhiitteecctt ffrroomm KKoocchhii,, iitt wwaass nnoott
hhiiss ffiirrsstt ttiimmee bbeeiinngg rreeccooggnniisseedd
aass aa ttoopp--ttiieerr ccoossppllaayyeerr iinn tthhee
ccoouunnttrryy..
TTUURRNN TTOO PPAAGGEE 1199
MMEEEERRAA MMAANNUU
DECCAN CHRONICLE
T
hree years down his
Bollywood debut, Najim
Arshad is back in Hindi
again, this time for mini-screen.
The singer croons for a forth-
coming television series on Star
Plus, Tamanna. In the second-
coming, Najim teams up with the
same old 'Sawalon ki Godh
Mein…' composer Advait
Nemlekar of 'Kaafiron ki
Namaaz', a song rendered in
2013. His soothing voice puts you
to sleep in the quiet of the night.
The recording of a four-minute
lullaby took place in Kochi a
month ago.
"A few lines recorded and sent
by Advait over WhatsApp was
the first invite for me to associ-
ate with the project. I tried on the
same verses and reverted to him
for voice approval. In a short
while, I received the go ahead.
Advait took a flight to Kochi for a
day and we had the recording
done overnight," says Najim.
No wonder Najim kept himself
away from projects outside
Malayalam for quite a long time.
His discography over the past
three years stands testimony
with somewhat 60 plus songs he
had lent voice to.
TURN TO PAGE 19
<< 25 << 24
MARIA IS
BACK AS
SUHARA
THE AGE OF
MALAYALI
Three cosplayers from Kerala
have made it big at this year's
Bangalore Comic Con by finding
a place in the list of finalists
CCOOSSPPLLAAYY
The practice of
dressing up as a
character from a
film, book or video
game, especially
one from the
Japanese genres
of manga or anime
SUPERHEROES
NNaajjiimm AArrsshhaadd

2. RAMSHANKAR
UNNIKRISHNAN
II ttooookk tthhee OOppttiimmuuss
ssuuiitt ttoo HHyyddeerraabbaadd iinn aa
bbuuss,, aanndd tthhee ddrriivveerr
cchhaarrggeedd aann eexxttrraa
11,,000000.. AAnndd wwhhiillee
rreettuurrnniinngg,, aa ddiiffffeerreenntt
bbuuss ddrriivveerr cchhaarrggeedd
aannootthheerr ``11,,550000 ffoorr
tthhee ssaammee lluuggggaaggee
A
s he took home last year's Grand Prize
at the Bangalore Comic Con for his
skilfully crafted Bumblebee suit, the
Bengaluru convention's regular crowd
had already known the Autobot cos-
player as the back-to-back Grand Prize Winner in
2013 and 2014. While in 2013, it was his Ironman
Mark 7 suit from Marvel comics that won
him the Grand Prize, it was a very
detailed War Machine v1.0 suit from the
Ironman movie that bagged him the prize
in 2014.
Nadir is a well-known name in cosplay
circles, being part of both the Indian
Cosplay Community as well as the
Bangalore Anime Club.
But Nadir's trip to superstardom (literal-
ly) came with its share of struggles. If
making his well-detailed suits took time
and effort, carrying them to Bengaluru
from Kochi every time, made the creation
seem like the easier bit. "I took the train
for the first two times and it was really
hard... the third time, I had to rent a car."
"Carrying six big boxes to the railway stations, it
was just a friend and I. We had to jump in before the
train left the station," Nadir recounted his second
trip. The same could be said about Nadir's friend
and another Kochi-based cosplayer Ramshankar
Unnikrishnan. From cosplaying Kerala's own
superhero Odayan in the 2014 Bangalore Con, the
Computer Science Engineer from Angamaly swept
the 2015 Hyderabad Comic Con by winning the
Grand Prize with his aesthetically-made Optimus
Prime suit from Transformers. It took him three
months to craft the suit to such perfection that it
won him the Grand Prize. The suit was crafted
using a material called Eva form. However, he also
had his share of transportation woes, "I took the
Optimus suit to Hyderabad in a bus, and the driver
charged an extra ` 1,000. And while returning, a
different bus driver charged another `1,500 for the
same luggage. I spent more on transportation than
to make the entire costume."
When the boys were making ripples in the cos-
play scene in the South, Anjali Das
from Thiruvananthapuram
exploded into the scene with her
gorgeously fiery and daring
Wonder Woman (warrior)
cosplay at the New Delhi
Comic Con by the end of
2015. Anjali, by then, had
already made a name
for herself in the
Bangalore Comic Con with her flawless
Harley Quinn cosplay from the
Batman Animated Series back in 2014,
and then her very memorable Female
Loki from Marvel Comics earlier last
year. As she prepares to go to Italy
next month for her PhD in Chemistry
at Parma, she ponders
over the future of cos-
play in Kerala. "Cosplay
in India has come a long
way over the last few
years, and people are
really starting to appre-
ciate it as an art."
However, Ramsankar
points out the diffi-
culties of it reach-
ing Kerala,
"There're only a
handful of
Malayali cos-
players and most of
them live outside
Kerala. When I started cosplay-
ing, it was only Nadir and I who
actually went for Comic Cons to cos-
play from Kerala. In fact, most people
here don't even know what cosplay
is.”
Nadir, with a glint of hope in his
eyes and the determination to
bring about change in Kerala,
weighs in, "With the help of some
of my friends, I'm planning to
promote cosplay in Kerala.
We'd love to see this culture
grow in my home state..."
However, he acknowledges
that the first step is the
hardest, "First, we'll
have to make the peo-
ple see the differ-
ence between cos-
play and fancy
dress."
Tuesday 8 January 2013
cover story
Friday 29 January 2016 19
Kochi Chronicle
NNAADDIIRR NNAAJJUUMMAALL
HHUUSSSSAAIINN
CCaarrrryyiinngg ssiixx bbiigg bbooxxeess ttoo
tthhee rraaiillwwaayy ssttaattiioonnss,, iitt wwaass
jjuusstt aa ffrriieenndd aanndd II.. WWee
hhaadd ttoo jjuummpp iinn bbeeffoorree
tthhee ttrraaiinn lleefftt tthhee ssttaattiioonn
TRIP TO
MUSICAL
FAME
N
ajim had his kitty
filled to the brim in
the past two-three
years with songs in
Mollywood cinema together
with contributions to a cou-
ple of music albums.
The former reality star
made his mark as a play-
back singer in the 2007 flick
Mission 90 Days. The big
break came exactly a year
later in Chembada where he
shot to fame with a soul-stir-
ring duet. The latest from
Najim was in Malgudi Days.
Tamanna, a Ramesh Deo
production, is a fictional tale
spun around women
empowerment. The plot
revolves around a young girl
bound by obstacles and
social orthodoxy, who still
aspires to become a crick-
eter. The Najim song 'Oh
Nindya Ki Rani…' appears
in one of the sequences.
"I consider this a real hon-
our. What I came to know
was that there were a few
more singers who were
auditioned for this particu-
lar song. Happy for my
name getting selected," he
smiles. In 2016, Najim has
already got into his usual
busyness. He has songs in
M u t t a y i k a l l a n u m
Mammaliyum and another
yet-to-be-announced movie.
‘ What I came to
know was that
there were a few
more singers who
were auditioned.
Happy for my
name getting
selected’
MUCH MORE THAN
FANCY DRESS
RRaammsshhaannkkaarr iinn
OOppttiimmuuss ssuuiitt