Sankaradi

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. 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). 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. 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.