Krishna Kumar Menon (born 2 October 1966), known professionally as Kay Kay Menon, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

, and occasionally in Gujarati,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

films. He is best known for his roles in films such as '' Black Friday'' (2004), '' Deewar'' (2004), '' Sarkar'' (2005), ''

Shaurya ''Shaurya'' ( ''Valour'') is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language legal drama film directed by Samar Khan and produced by Moser Baer. The film stars Kay Kay Menon, Rahul Bose, Javed Jaffrey, Deepak Dobriyal, and Minissha Lamba. The film is based ...

'' (2008), ''

Gulaal Gulal or abir is the traditional name given to the coloured powders used for some Hindu rituals, in particular for the Holi festival or Dol Purnima (though commonly associated with the red colour used in the festival). During Holi, which cel ...

'' (2009), ''

Haider Haider is a predominantly Arabic name, with alternative spellings such as Haidar, Haydar and Heydar. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Haider Shah 15th-century sultan of Kashmir *Haider Al-Abadi, Iraqi politician * Haider Acke ...

'' (2014), ''

Baby In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

'' (2015). He has starred in web series such as ''

Special Ops Special operations or special ops are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment." Special operations ma ...

'', ''

Farzi ''Farzi'' () is an Indian Hindi-language black comedy crime thriller television series created, produced and directed by Raj & DK, who also co-wrote the series with Sita Menon and Suman Kumar. It stars Shahid Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi, Kay Kay ...

'', '' The Railway Men'' and '' Citadel: Honey Bunny''.

Early life

Menon was born into a

Malayali The Malayali people (; also spelt Malayalee and sometimes known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala and Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India, occupying its south ...

family in

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

and raised in

Ambarnath Ambernath (Marathi pronunciation: �mbəɾnaːt̪ʰ is an eastern suburban city in Thane district of Maharashtra and is a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Demographics In 2011, Ambarnath had a population of 253,475, with 132,582 M ...

and

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India. He studied at the St. Joseph High School in

Khadki Khadki is a cantonment in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India. It has now flourished as a quasi-metropolis & centered in the northern region of the city. Description Khadki could be considered an Indian Army base, along with an ordnance facto ...

. He passed his 10th grade in 1981. He did his Bachelors (Physics) from

Mumbai University University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

and his MBA from

Department of Management Sciences (PUMBA) Established in 1971, The Department of Management Sciences (DMS), Savitribai Phule Pune University (also known as PUMBA or Pune University MBA), is one of the premier business schools in India. It is an autonomous department of the University ...

at the

University of Pune Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Pune, is a public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshkhind. The uni ...

, graduating in 1988 with a major in Marketing. Menon's initial focus was working in the advertising industry, including

Kinetic Honda Kinetic Honda was a joint venture between Kinetic Engineering Limited, India and Honda Motor Company, Japan. Kinetic was the first company to have a joint venture with HMSI. The partnership operated from 1984 to 1998, manufacturing two-stroke sco ...

and Marlboro cigarette advertisements in India.

Career

He started his career in theatre productions where he met

Nivedita Bhattacharya Nivedita Bhattacharya (born 21 July 1970) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is known for TV shows ''Saat Phere'', ''Saloni Ka Safar'' and ''Koi Laut Ke Aaya Hai.'' Also for web-series A web series (also known as webseries, ...

, whom he married. His first theatre break was opposite

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He was notable in Indian parallel cinema and has starred in various international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfa ...

Feroz Abbas Khan Feroz Abbas Khan is an Indian theatre and film director, playwright and screenwriter, who is most known for directing plays like Mughal-e-Azam, ''Saalgirah'', '' Tumhari Amrita'' (1992), ''Salesman Ramlal'' and ''Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi''. Ca ...

'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 also appeared in Telefilms of

Zee TV ZEE TV also known as Z TV is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched on 1 October 1992 as the oldest privately owned television channel in India. History ...

Rishtey (Ward no. 6) and Saturday Suspense episodes. He was praised for his role as a young Prime Minister in the

series ''Pradhan Mantri'' (2001), directed by

Ketan Mehta Ketan Mehta (born 21 July 1952) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who has also directed documentaries and television serials since 1975. Early life and education Born on 21 July 1952 in Navsari in Gujarat, Mehta did his sch ...

. In ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', 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 ''The Tribune'' or ''Tribune'' is the name of various newspapers: United States Daily California *''Oakland Tribune'' * ''The Tribune'' (San Luis Obispo) * ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' *''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' Indiana *''Kokomo 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'' (1995), followed in 1999 by the lead role in ''

Bhopal Express The 12155 / 12156 Hazrat Nizamuddin–Rani Kamalapati Express (also Shaan-e-Bhopal) is a Daily Superfast Express train service, connecting Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, India and New Delhi. It has the distinction of being the fastes ...

'', 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 ''Paanch'' () is a 2003 Indian crime thriller film written and directed by Anurag Kashyap in his directing debut, starring Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava, Vijay Maurya, Joy Fernandes, and Tejaswini Kolhapure. The film is loosely based on th ...

'', 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'' (starring

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

) and ''

Silsiilay ''Silsiilay'' () is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language romance film written and directed by Khalid Mohammed. The film stars Tabu, Bhumika Chawla, Riya Sen, Celina Jaitly, Anita Hassanandani, Divya Dutta, Rahul Bose, Jimmy Sheirgill, Ashmit ...

'' (with

Shahrukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has appeared in more th ...

) flopped at the box office. It was only in 2005, with the eventual release of the critically acclaimed ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'', but with

Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, primarily known for his work in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Telugu cinema, Telugu films.** * * Varma has dir ...

's '' Sarkar'', Menon had his break. ''Sarkar'' earned him a nomination for the Best Performance in a Negative Role at the

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...

. In ''

'', Saibal Chatterjee called him "one of Bollywood's finest actors". In 2007, he acted in '' Life in a... Metro'', ''

Enemmy ''Enemmy'' is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Ashu Trikha - the title being intentionally misspelt using the 6 main characters initials. The film stars Mithun Chakraborty, Sunil Shetty, Mahakshay Chakraborty, Kay ...

'' (2013), and ''

Rahasya ''Rahasya'' () is a 2015 Indian murder mystery film which is directed by Manish Gupta. The film stars Kay Kay Menon, Tisca Chopra, Ashish Vidyarthi, Mita Vashisht and Ashwini Kalsekar. The film is inspired by the 2008 Noida double murder case ...

'' (2015), as an adulterous husband. In 2008, he appeared in ''

'' based on

A Few Good Men ''A Few Good Men'' is a 1992 American legal drama film based on Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play, produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, financed and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was written by Sorkin, directed by Rob Reiner, and produced ...

. His portrayal of a ruthless army brigadier is still talked of among cinema lovers. In 2009, he starred in ''

The Stoneman Murders ''The Stoneman Murders'' is a 2009 Indian neo-noir crime thriller film based on the real life Stoneman serial killings that made headlines in the early 1980s in Bombay. The helpless victims of the mystery killer, who was never caught, were Sid ...

'' 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

bagged him a Filmfare and IIFA award for Best Supporting Actor. He played a very crucial role in ''

The Ghazi Attack ''Ghazi'' is a 2017 Indian war film written and directed by Sankalp Reddy. The film is produced in the Telugu cinema, Telugu film industry, and is shot simultaneously in Telugu language, Telugu and Hindi languages, with the latter titled ''The G ...

'' 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 in 1971. He played a role as Vikram Singh in 2019's Penalty with co-actor Mohit Nain. He impressed and gained more popularity with a role as Himmat Singh in 2020's ''

'' - a web series for Hotstar. In 2021, he again played the young version of Himmat Singh (

R&AW The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) is the foreign intelligence agency of the Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous ...

leading officer) in Special Ops 1.5, the prequel part of

Filmography

Films

Television

Streaming series

Short film(s)

References

External links

* * *
Kay Kay Menon
at

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, Kay Kay 1966 births Living people Malayali people Indian male film actors 20th-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian male actors Male actors from Mumbai Male actors from Pune Male actors in Gujarati-language films Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners