Kay Kay Menon


Kay Kay Menon is an Indian film, stage and television actor who works predominantly in Hindi cinema, and also in Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu cinema.

Early life

Menon was born in Kerala and raised in Ambarnath and Pune, Maharashtra.
He studied at the St. Josephs Boys' High School in Khadki, Pune. He passed his 10th grade in 1981. He did his Bachelors from Mumbai University and his MBA from the Department of Management Sciences at the University of Pune, graduating in 1988 with a major in Marketing.
Menon's initial focus was working in the advertising industry including Kinetic Honda and Marlboro cigarette advertisements in India.

Career

He started his career in theatre productions where he met Nivedita Bhattacharya, whom he married. His first theatre break was opposite Naseeruddin Shah in Feroz Abbas Khan's Mahatma vs Gandhi.
In the early years of his career, Menon worked on television, with roles in the TV movies Zebra 2 and Last Train To Mahakali. He was praised for his role as a young Prime Minister in the Zee TV series Pradhan Mantri, directed by Ketan Mehta. In The Hindu, Sevanti Ninan wrote, "an actor to watch: Kay Kay Menon... this unusually tall actor who plays the pradhan mantri is a major saving grace" while in The Tribune, Amita Malik commented, "excellent acting by Menon, who skilfully conveys the physical as well as mental image of the honest politician".
Menon made his big screen debut with a small role in Naseem, followed in 1999 by the lead role in Bhopal Express, a movie that went mostly unnoticed. This was the first in a series of initial setbacks in Menon's film career. In the early 2000s, he starred as a wicked rock musician in Anurag Kashyap's debut movie, Paanch, which struggled with censorship and has remained unreleased. Two other movies, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Black Friday, had to wait many years for a release date. Meanwhile, his commercial films Deewar and Silsiilay flopped at the box office. It was only in 2005, with the eventual release of the critically acclaimed Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, but most of all with Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar, that Menon had his break. Sarkar earned him a nomination for the Best Performance in a Negative Role at the Filmfare Awards. In The Tribune, Saibal Chatterjee called him "one of Bollywood's finest actors".
In 2007, he acted in Life in a... Metro, as an adulterous husband. In 2008, he appeared in Shaurya based on A Few Good Men. His portrayal of a ruthless army brigadier is still talked of among cinema lovers. In 2009, he starred in The Stoneman Murders where he played a police officer on the hunt for the Stoneman serial killer. He played the role of Dukki Bana in ''Gulaal.
His role as Khurram Mir in 2014's Haider bagged him a Filmfare and IIFA award for Best Supporting Actor.
He played a very crucial role in Ghazi Attack as a Naval Captain based on an Indian Naval submarine, S21, intercepts a Pakistani submarine, PNS Ghazi, during routine surveillance and thwarts its mission of destroying INS Vikrant in 1971. He played a role as Vikram Singh in 2019's Penalty with co-actor Mohit Nain. He played a role as Himmat Singh in 2020's Special Ops - a web series for Hotstar.

Filmography

YearFilmRoleNotes
TBA3 DevSatyavan
TBAFirrkie
2019San' 75 PachattarGovind
2018Ek SangaychayMarathi film
2018PhamousKadak Singh
2018Baa Baaa Black SheepACP Shivraj Naik
2018Vodka DiariesACP Ashwini Dixit
2018DhaadGheloGujarati; released 17 years after being shot
2017The Ghazi AttackCaptain Ranvijay SinghTelugu / Hindi
2016Saat UchakkeyTejpal
2016A Flying JattMr. Rakesh Malhotra
2015Singh Is BliingMark
2015Bombay VelvetInvestigative Officer Vishwas Kulkarni
2015RahasyaCBI Officer Sunil Paraskar
2015BabyBilal Khan
2014HaiderKhurram MeerInternational Indian Film Academy Awards for Best Performance in a Negative Role
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—BIG Star Entertainment Awards for Most Entertaining Actor in a Thriller Film – Male
Nominated—International Indian Film Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Screen Awards for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Screen Awards for Best Actor in a Negative Role
Nominated—Star Guild Awards for Best Actor in a Negative Role
Nominated— Stardust Awards for Best Actor in a Negative Role
2014Raja NatwarlalVardha Yadav
2013Ankur Arora Murder CaseDr. Asthana
2013Udhayam NH4Manoj MenonTamil film
2013Jehangir
2013EnemmyNaeem Shaikh
2012ShahidWar saab
2012Life Ki Toh Lag GayiSalman
2012Chaalis ChouraasiAlbert Pinto
2011Bhindi BaazaarShroff
2011Bheja Fry 2Ajit Talwar
2010Benny And BablooBenny
2010Lafangey ParindeyAnna
2010Tera Kya Hoga JohnnyInspector Shashikant Chiple
2009Sankat CityGuru
2009Aage se rightJanubhai/Baima Rashidul Kairi
2009GulaalDukey Bana
2009The Stoneman MurdersSanjay Shelar
2008DronaRiz Razaida
2008SirfGaurav
2008ShauryaBrigadier Rudra Pratap Singh
2008Via DarjeelingAnkur Sharma
2008Mumbai Meri JaanSuresh
2008Maan Gaye Mughal-e-AzamHaldi Hasan
2008Highway 203WriterUnreleased
2008Sarkar RajVishnu Nagare
2007GoNagesh Rao
2007Life in a... MetroRanjeetNominated—International Indian Film Academy Awards for Best Performance in a Negative Role
2007Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.Partho Sen
2007StrangersMr Rai
2006ShoonyaMahendra Naik
2006CorporateRitesh SahaniNominated—GIFA Best Supporting Actor
2005Ek Khiladi Ek HaseenaKaif
2005Main, Meri Patni Aur WohAkash
2005DanshMathew
2005SarkarVishnu NagareNominated—Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role
2004SilsiilayAnwar
2004DeewaarSohail
2004Black FridayDCP Rakesh MariaReleased in theaters in 2007
2003Hazaaron Khwaishein AisiSiddharth TyabjiReleased in theaters in 2005
2003PaanchLukeUnreleased
2002ChhalKaran Menon
1999Bhopal ExpressVerma
1995NaseemReligious fundamentalistDebut film

Television

YearShowRoleChannel
1995-96DarrInspector AvinashStar Plus
1999Star Bestsellers - Zebra 2Captain RajeevStar Plus
1999Star Bestsellers - Last Train to MahakaliSirStar Plus
2000Rishtey - Ward No. 6RajatZee TV
2001Pradhan MantriPM Anirudh PrakashZee TV
2014YudhMunicipal Commissioner Sony TV

OTT / Webseries