Saju Navodaya

Saju Navodaya
Saju Navodaya during Kairali TV Event in Doha 2016
Born	P. T. Saju Udayamperoor, Kochi, India
Other names	Pashanam Shaji, Saaju, Shaji
Occupation	Film actor, comedian, mimicry artist
Years active	2014–present
Spouse(s)	Resmi
Parent(s)	Pappanikunnel Thankappan , Manka

Saju Navodaya, often credited by his stage name Pashanam Shaji, is an Indian film actor mostly acted in comedy roles in Malayalam films.^[1]

Personal life

He is born as sixth among nine children to Pappanikunnel Thankappan and Manka at Udayamperoor, Kochi.^[2] He has 6 brothers, Ajayan, Sajeevan, Sunil, Suresh, Abhilash, Ratheesh and 2 sisters, Sindhu, Radhika. He did his schooling at the famous SNDP HSS Udayamperoor. He, along with his brother Suresh, were regular participants in almost all the competitions in school youth festivals. Both of them were specialized in mimicry. Also, Saju was the director of many dramas which won first prize in Ernakulam district level youth festivals in late 90s. After completing his education, he started a dance institute in Udayamperoor where many children learned different dance forms like classical dance, break dance, cinematic dance etc.^[3]

He is married to Resmi who is a trained classical dancer. She was a dance teacher in his dance institute. Later they fell in love and dramatically got married on the very next day of his elder brother's marriage. Reshmi was a big support for him to continue his art life when he was planning to quit mimicry, because of severe financial crisis. Saju started his married life in a small rented room in Kumbalam, Kochi. He worked as a painter in early stages of his married life. It was Manoj Guinness, who gave him an opportunity in a professional mimicry troupe in Kochi. Later on, Saju's name got changed to Saju Navodaya after associating with a mimicry troupe called Cochin Navodaya. ^[4]

Filmography

As Actor

Year	Film	Role	Co-stars	Director	Note
2014	Mannar Mathai Speaking 2	Thief	Innocent, Mukesh, Sai Kumar, Janardhanan, Aparna Gopinath	Mamas	Debut Film
	Vellimoonga	Kochappy	Biju Menon, Aju Varghese, Nikki Galrani,	Jibu Jacob
	Little Superman
2015	Mariyam Mukku	Nazerath	Fahadh Faasil, Manoj K Jayan, Aju Varghese, Sana Althaf	James Albert
	Ivan Maryadaraman		Dileep, Nikki Galrani, Nagineedu	Suresh Divakar
	Bhaskar The Rascal	Vikraman	Mammotty, Nayantara, Isha Talwar, Janardhanan	Siddique
	Oru Second Class Yathra	Biju	Vineeth Sreenivasan, Nikki Galrani, Chemban Vinod Jose, Nedumudi Venu,	Jexson Antony & Rejis Antony
	Thinkal Muthal Velli Vare		Jayaram, Anoop Menon, Rimi Tomy, Janardhanan, Maniyanpilla Raju, Indrans	Kannan Thamarakkulam
	Acha Dhin		Mammootty, Mansi Sharma, Renji Panicker, Maniyanpilla Raju	G Marthandan
	Jamna Pyari	Sreenivasan	Kunchacko Boban, Gayathri Suresh, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Aju Varghese, Neeraj Madhav, Renji Panicker,	Thomas Sebastian
	Utopiayile Rajavu		Mammootty, Jewel Mary, Indrans, Joy Mathew, Maniyanpilla Raju	Kamal
	Life of Josutty	Rameshan	Dileep, Rachana Narayanankutty, Suraj Venjarammoodu, Dharmajan Bolgatty	Jeethu Joseph
	Pathemari		Mammootty, Jewel Mary, Sreenivasan, Salim Kumar, Siddique	Salim Ahamed
	Amar Akbar Anthony	Rejimon	Prithviraj Sukumaran, Jayasurya, Indrajith Sukumaran, Namitha Pramod, Ramesh Pisharody, Dharmajan Bolgatty	Nadirshah
2016	Kattumakkan		Mukesh, Nassar, Vijay Menon	Shalil Kallur
	Aadupuliyattam		Jayaram, Ramya Krishnan, Om Puri, Siddique, Asha Sarath, Ramesh Pisharody	Kannan Thamarakkulam
	Hallelooya		Narain, Meghna Raj, Sunil Sukhada, Sudheer Karamana	Sudhi Anna

As a Playback Singer

Saju Navodaya debuted as a playback singer through the movie Aadupuliyattam.

No.	Year	Song	Film	Co-singers	Language	Music	Notes
1	2016	"Manja Kattil Pokande"	Aadupuliyattam	Jayaram, Ramesh Pisharody	Malayalam	Ratheesh Vegha

References

1. "Saju Navodaya". Filmibeat.
2. http://www.mangalam.com/mangalam-varika/295389?page=0,0
3. "Manam Pole Mangalyam: Pashanam Shaji & Reshmi". jaihind.tv. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
4. http://www.manoramaonline.com/women/work-and-life/saju-navodaya.html