Dulquer Salmaan - Movies, Biography, News, Age & Photos

Dulquer Salmaan, popularly referred to as DQ, is an Indian actor who appears principally in Malayalam films. He is the son of actor Mammootty, and is currently one of the most bankable leading men of the Malayalam film industry. Salmaan made his acting debut in 2012 with the crime drama Second Show, for which he bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Debutant. Since then, he has appeared in an array of critically and commercially successful movies in Malayalam and Tamil, and won the Kerala State Award for Best Actor for the romantic drama Charlie (2015).

Early Life
Salmaan was born in Kochi, Kerala on July 28th, 1986, to actor Mammootty and Sulfath. After his schooling in Chennai, Salmaan joined the Purdue University in Indiana, USA, to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. His initial plan was to oversee the family’s business ventures, but the latent acting aspirations eventually caught up with Salmaan, and prior to his foray into Mollywood, he joined the famous Barry John Acting Studio in Mumbai for a three-month course in acting.

Personal Life
Salmaan is married to Amal Sufiya, a Chennai-based architect hailing from a North Indian Muslim family. He has an elder sister, Surumi. Salmaan is an entrepreneur and avid motorcyclist. Besides overseeing family business ventures, he also serves as the director of the Bangalore-based Motherhood Hospital.

Movie Career
Salmaan made his silver screen debut in the 2012 crime drama Second Show, which received positive reviews and became a sleeper hit in spite of the relatively inexperience cast and crew. His second outing was Ustad Hotel, which was penned by Anjali Menon and directed by Anwar Rasheed. The film went on to become a critical and commercial success, and Salmaan’s performance was especially well-received. In the same year, he essayed the role of a man seeking retribution for the murder of his wife in the crime thriller Theevram, which opened to mixed reviews and was a moderate success at the box office.

The year 2013 started on the right note for Salmaan, with the comedy ABCD: American- Born Confused Desi setting the cash registers ringing at the box office. The movie also marked Salmaan’s debut as a playback singer. He then portrayed the role of a wheelchair-bound photographer in the segment Kullante Bharya in the anthology film 5 Sundarikal. This was followed by Sameer Thahir’s road movie Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi, which earned praise for its subject, visual style and performances and made waves at the box office. Salmaan’s next three outings - Salalah Mobiles, Pattam Pole and Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram - were romantic comedies that turned out to be box office disappointments, though the Tamil version of Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram (titled Vaayai Moodi Pesavum) was well-received.

In 2014, Salmaan starred alongside Nivin Pauly, Nazriya Nazim, Fahadh Faasil, Nithya Menen, Parvathy and Isha Talwar in the ensemble romantic comedy-drama Bangalore Days, which became one of the biggest blockbusters in the history of Malayalam cinema. The movie has since been remade to Tamil, with Arya reprising Salmaan’s role in the remake. In the same year, he appeared in Ranjith’s historical drama Njaan and Lal Jose’s coming of age drama Vikramadithyan, both of which fared well critically and commercially.

The watershed year for Salmaan was 2015, as he forayed into Tamil cinema through eminent director Mani Ratnam’s romantic drama O Kadhal Kanmani. The movie’s dubbed Telugu version OK Bangaram was released simultaneously, and their success sealed Salmaan’s place among the most sought-after names in the South Indian film industry. Salmaan then reunited with Martin Prakkat (the two had earlier worked together in ABCD) for Charlie, where he played the eponymous character of a free-spirited vagabond. The film was met with overwhelming reception at the box office, and Salmaan won a Kerala State Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Charlie.

The year 2016 saw the actor continuing his fine form with Kali, an action thriller where he essayed the role of a youth struggling with anger management issues. The film grossed over 160 million (16 crore) during its theatrical run, and held the record for the highest opener in Malayalam cinema at the time of its release. Director turned cinematographer Rajeev Ravi’s crime thriller Kammatipaadam was the year’s second offering from Salmaan, and the film was widely appreciated for its realistic portrayal of land mafia’s clout in Kochi that led to the dispossession of countless Dalits.

Sathyan Anthikkad’s family drama Jomonte Suvisheshangal, Bejoy Nambiar’s bilingual romantic drama Solo and Amal Neerad’s untitled movie are some of Salmaan’s projects in 2017.

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Trivia

Dulquer Salmaan is a self-confessed auto enthusiast, and owns a fleet of luxury cars and sports bikes. When not busy with shooting schedules, he enjoys embarking on road trips.

In 2014, Salmaan was listed among the 50 most desirable men in the country in a Times of India survey. He is the only Malayalam actor to make the list.

Dulquer Salmaan ran a web portal for trading of cars before making an entry into the movie industry.

Dulquer Salmaan is the director of the Bangalore based Motherhood Hospital.

Dulquer Salmaan has a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Purdue University U.S.A.

Dulquer Salmaan reportedly rejected movie roles offered to him by popular directors Shyamaprasad and N. Linguswamy at the initial stages of his career as he wanted to first learn various aspects of movies before getting into acting professionally.

Solo was initially conceived as a Malayalam film. It was Dulquer who suggested to Bejoy that the film has the potential to be a bilingual.

Dulquer Salmaan's credentials as a playback singer often get eclipsed by his stardom. The actor made his playback singing debut with American-Born Confused Desi (ABCD), and has since sung for films like Charlie, CIA and Parava.

The comedy road movie Karwaan marked the Bollywood debut of Dulquer Salmaan, while the multilingual biographical film Mahanati is his debut film in Tollywood.

Many of the actors featured in Parava come from film families. The movie features popular comedian Abi's son Shane Nigam, Zinil Sainudeen (son of actor Sainudeen) and Arjun Asokan (son of Harisree Asokan) in pivotal roles. Besides them, the movie also features an extended cameo by Dulquer Salmaan, who is the son of three-time National Award winner Mammootty.

The popular Malayalam star Dulquer Salmaan makes his Telugu debut with Mahanati.

Vijay Devarakonda was also considered for the Gemini Ganesan's role, but later the director Nag Ashwin felt Dulquer Salmaan fits the bill better.

Social and Humanitarian Work

Salmaan is actively involved in various social and humanitarian works - as a part of the Chennai Gives initiative, he donated close to 150 items including clothing, school supplies and books. He has also appeared in a short as a part of the Kerala Motor Vehicle Department’s Safe Riding campaign.

Endorsements

Salmaan is the director of Bangalore-based Motherhood Hospital. Before his entry into Mollywood, he ran a few business ventures, one of which was a web portal for trading cars. He is also the owner of a Chennai-based dental care chain.

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Personal Quotes

“I think, besides my voice and certain mannerisms, I don't resemble my father (Mammootty) in any way. That has helped a great deal in establishing myself as an actor - separating our identities. But I take it as a big compliment when I’m compared to my father.” On the inevitable comparisons between him and Mammootty

“The showbiz sure looks very glamorous from the outside as we wear fancy clothes and travel to different places, but it is not a very secure industry. I have always seen success as close to failure.” On the unpredictability of movie industry

“For any actor, being forgotten is the biggest insecurity.”

I don't want to get into a comfort zone. I am getting characters of varying shades, which I believe will help me grow as an actor.

For me, style is all about confidence. What you wear, both in terms of clothing and jewelry, should add to your confidence.

I enjoy working in movies that appeal to and will be seen by many people.

People working in films are somewhat like gypsies: we move from set to set and spend weeks, sometimes even longer working while shooting a film. Right from the spot boys to the make-up guys and cast and crew, we become a kind of family.

I enjoy clothes. My mother tells me how, even as a kid, I used to choose my own clothes. I have a feel for it, and I do the costume coordination for my photo shoots as well. Many a times, even my characters wear the clothes I choose.

People think that I have some idea about how I choose my films. I make sure that I am doing the kind of films that I want to watch. You hear so many stories, and one of them will stand out and connect to you somewhere.

In films, you will be judged by your last hit or, let's say, your last film.

You can't learn acting through any classes.

I didn't want to use my father's name. I don't think I will ever want to use his influence... Never have I gone around asking people, 'Do you know who I am...' Even if it's to cut a line at the airport.

Somehow, I'm in denial about being desirable. But every time my wife tells me to shave or cut my hair or clean up my look, I playfully boast to her that I'm the most desirable man!

My mum is slightly biased and feels everything I do is wonderful, but Dad was like, 'You should go ahead boldly, and I think you should do more films.' To me, that was some kind of acceptance.

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