24 years of 'Balu Bhai': the iconic role Siddique initially turned down

‘Satyameva Jayathe’ was a 2000 film directed by Viji Thampi. The movie with a stellar cast came without much ado but turned into a blockbuster surprising many. Aishwarya, Hemant Ravan, Siddique, Rajan P Dev and Balachandra Menon played the lead roles in this film. This movie also marked the debut of music composer M Jayachandran into the film milieu.

The movie which had a superstar protagonist in Suresh Gopi is surprisingly best known for the bald antagonist played by actor Siddique. This was Siddique's first villain role and he was caught in apprehension about taking the chance.

Viji Thampi:

“It was the scriptwriter who lately added yet another local character named ‘Balu Bhai’ and then discussion started about finding a perfect cast who could do justice to the character. My mind suggested Siddique's name but not many were happy with this. Fighting all such contrarian opinions, I decided to move ahead with Siddique.

The actor used to visit the set occasionally, so one day, I revealed the character and requested him to do the role. But Siddique denied the role within seconds. “No Thampi…this would end up bad. I can’t match the might of Suresh Gopi’s macho character and the villain character will fall flat.” This was Siddique's response to the offer.

However, I had a belief that he could pull it off in style. After a lot of persuasions, Siddique took up the role and he astonishingly turned into the bald, neatly-shaven, betel-chewing Balu Bhai. Even his appearance carried a glare of eeriness. He perfected the introduction scene which we filmed and Suresh Gopi came hugging Siddique saying ‘You aced it, man’. It was at this moment that I knew that the film would open doors for more such roles for Siddique.