Sankaradi
ശങ്കരാടി
Portrait of Sankaradi
Born	Kanakku Chembakaraman Parameswaran Pillai Chandrashekaran Menon (1924-07-14)14 July 1924 North Pavavur Kingdom of Cochin, British India (present day Ernakulam, Kerala, India)
Died	8 October 2001(2001-10-08) (aged 77) Cherai, Kochi, Kerala, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupations	Actor Politician Journalist
Years active	1963 – 1998
Spouse	Sharada
Parents	Paravoor Memana Parameswara Pillai Chankaradiyil Thoppil Parambil Janaki Amma [1]
Awards	Kerala State Film Awards 1970, 1971 - Second Best Actor

Chandrashekaran Menon, better known by his screen name Sankaradi (14 July 1924 – 8 October 2001), was an Indian actor. He was a veteran Malayalam comedian and character artist, who had over 700 Malayalam films to his credit.^[2] He dominated the Malayalam film scene in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s as a comedian along with Adoor Bhasi and Bahadoor. Later, he switched to character roles.

Early life

Sankaradi passed intermediate from Maharajas College, Ernakulam. Before entering films, Sankaradi briefly dabbled in politics, journalism and theatre. He had earlier joined the Indian National Congress, but later became a cardholder of the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI).^[3] However, he returned his party card after the CPI split in 1964 and turned to theatre.

Sankaradi joined the trade union movement at Baroda Railways while he was studying Marine engineering at Baroda. He abandoned his studies to pursue a job as a journalist in The Literary Review a newspaper based in Mumbai.^[4]

Film career

A stint in theatre in the mid-1960s in Kerala prepared Sankaradi for his foray into films. Since his debut in Kunchacko's Kadalamma, he remained an integral part of Malayalam cinema till his death.

In 1968, he acted in Viruthan Shanku, the first full-length comedy in Malayalam cinema directed by P. Venu. Sankaradi won the state's best character artiste award in 1969–71. He also holds the record for featuring in over 300 films with Prem Nazir.^[5]

Awards

Kerala State Film Awards:

• Second Best Actor - 1970 - Vazhve mayam, Ezhuthatha Kadha
• Second Best Actor - 1971 - Various Films

Personal life

He was born to Memana Parameswara Pillai and Chankaradiyil Thoppil Parambil Janaki Amma in 1924 at Cherai, Kochi, India. He had four siblings, Balan Menon, Sarojini, Lakshmikuty and Indira.^[6] Later on, he adopted the screen name 'Sankaradi' from the name of his Matrilineal family name "Chankaradiyil" by discarding the "-yil" and changing "Chankaradi" to "Sankaradi" ^[7]

Sankaradi remained a bachelor for a long time till he married Sharada in the late 1980s; the couple had no children. He was known throughout his film career by his house name(Tharavadu) "Sankaradi".^[5][8][9] He died at his home in Cherai at 10 PM on 8 October 2001, aged 77. He was ailing for a while until his death. He was cremated with full state honours at the premises of his home the next day. Harikrishnans, directed by Fazil, was his last film.

Filmography

References

External links

• Sankaradi at IMDb
• Sankaradi at MSI