Kay Kay Menon: Acting is more about restraint than exposition

Actors Kay Kay Menon, Naveen Kasturia and director Himank Gaur talk about their show ‘Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya’, how their school life shaped their journey in films, the experience of working with comedy, why Kay Kay Menon feels he has failed more than he has suceeded in his performances, and more

Prime Video’s upcoming show, Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, brings forth a wave of nostalgia. Set in a fictional government school in Delhi, it features a laid-back headmaster, Gyaneshwar Tripathi, played by Kay Kay Menon, who tries to add order to its dysfunctionality. With a strict Hindi teacher feared by all, a Maths expert told to conduct Physics classes, and students creating problems for all, the show exhibits an alluring familiarity. That’s what attracted Kay Kay Menon to its world. Reminiscing about his school days, the actor says that he was drawn to science as a child. “I loved Physics, so later I did my graduation in that,” he says.

Acting, too, had made its place in his life early on, as he recalls doing stage plays as a nine-year-old. “It came easy to me. I used to enjoy that process. But I didn’t know that it was something I had been given. Only much later in life did I finally realise that I was enjoying acting more than everything else I was doing, including my MBA. So, I went back to acting.” Menon adds that it was his ‘calling’ which he realised late. “I feel that everyone has two or three talents. You may have a talent for architecture, and you want to become an actor. It’s a desire when your talent lies elsewhere. So, I realised late that it was acting that gave me joy rather than management or advertising.”