Harisree Ashokan

Ashokan (nicknamed Babu) was born as the sixth child among ten children to the late Kunjappan and late Janaki on 6 April 1964,^[3] at Ernakulam, Kochi. He has nine siblings, the late Raveendran, the late Sasindran, Mohanan, Anil, Sunil, Santha, Vimala, and the late Sujatha.^[4] He had his primary education from MIHS Ernakulam. After tenth he joined Kuyilin's Cochin Kalavedi.^[5] He holds a diploma in Telecom Engineering from Ernakulam, Kerala.^[6] He found work as an assistant lineman in 1984 with the Telecom Department in Kochi, Kerala. He worked until 1987 when he rose to become a lineman. While working there he joined Kalabhavan and worked for 6 years and later moved to Harisree, after which he began to be called 'Harisree Ashokan'. His elder brother was also a telecom officer.^[7]

Asokan was always interested in acting and was an amateur theatre actor. He got his first break with the movie Parvathy Parinayam directed by P.G. Viswambharan where he played the role of a beggar.^[8]

Ashokan made his screen debut in the 1986 movie Pappan Priyappetta Pappan. He played several numerous roles in the next years. Among these, he was noted for the role of beggar in the 1994 movie Parvathy Parinayam.^[9] This role gave the first breakthrough in his film career. He acted in around ten movies in 1994 itself after acting in Parvathy Parinayam.^[10] It was the movie Vrudhanmare Sookshikkuka in 1994, which gave him the major breakthrough, where he played one of the lead roles alongside Dileep, with whom Ashokan eventually formed one of the most celebrated comedy duos in Malayalam film industry throughout his career.^[11]

In the 1998 movie Punjabi House, Ashokan played the character Ramanan, which is considered one of the best comedy characters in Malayalam films.^[12] Many consider this as the best performance by Harishree Ashokan in his career which developed a cult following several years after its release.^[13] The Dileep-Harishree Ashokan's other hit movie is Ee Parakkum Thalika, which was released in 2001, where he played the role of Sundaran. He played the character of Sugunan^[14] in the 2002 movie Meesha Madhavan, which became the highest grossing Malayalam movie of that year. Harishree Ashokan's most famous roles in his career came out in 2003. In the slapsick comedy C.I.D. Moosa, he played the role of Thorappan Kochunni and in the movie Pulival Kalyanam, he became Theeppori Kuttappan. He played the character Krishankutty in Thilakkam. His role as Ugran in the movie Chronic Bachelor was also appreciated by the audience. All these films were major blockbusters in 2003.^[15]

In the 2005 Malayalam movie Boyy Friennd, Ashokan played the villain role for the first time in his career.

Dileep and Harishree Ashokan is a popular comedy pairing in Malayalam cinema. The duo have acted together in plenty of movies. Vriddanmarund Sookshikkuga, Punjabi House, Ee Parakkum Thalika, Meesa Madhavan, C.I.D Moosa, Thilakkam, Runway, Kochi Rajavu, Pandippada, Crazy Gopalan, Chess, Kuberan, Kaaryastan are some among the major movies among them.^[16][17]

Ashokan made his directional debut through the 2019 movie An International Local Story.^[18]

He is married to Preetha. The couple have two children, Sreekutty and Malayalam film actor Arjun Ashokan.^[19]