Thiruvananthapuram: In the season of ‘Jai Ho’, Ajay Kumar takes home a Guinness record. The 2’6” actor, who entered the latest edition of the Guinness Book of World Records as the “shortest actor leading an adult role”, hopes the Slumdog Millionaire spotlight on India would boost his plans to go Hollywood with a mega production starring over 5,000 midgets.

“A major Hollywood studio has evinced interest in making a children’s film on the lines of Adbudha Dweep, which starred around 360 midgets. Now that the whole world is looking at India after the success of Slumdog Millionaire, they might want to shoot the film in India. The timing of the awarding of the Guinness certificate may also help,” Ajay said.

 

Ajay aka Unda Pakru was nominated to the honour after he starred in the 2005 movie Adbudha Dweep, a movie on the lines of Gulliver’s Travels. He got the certificate on Monday, while shooting with Mammootty in Kochi. The movie didn’t make it to the Guinness Book though. Both the movie and its lead actor feature in the Limca Book of World Records.

 

“I got the Guinness certificate this week. Mammootty presented it to me. It was an honour. He suggested that I change my name from Unda Pakru to Guinneess Pakru because I changed my defect to achievement,” the 32-year-old postgraduate in economics said from his home in Kottayam, where he lives with his wife Gayathri and three-month-old daughter Deeptha Keerthi.

 

Ajay, who has done over 50 films in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada, is currently working on two projects in Malayalam and one in Tamil. He got the Kerala state special award for his role in Adbudha Dweep in 2005 and the Tamil Nadu state award for the best supporting actor in 2006 for his role in Dishum. He is pinning his hopes on Kannada Mirror, to be released later this year, where he plays the protagonist.

 

“This is the 25^th year of my career. I’m glad to get this recognition now. I don’t see my condition as a defect. When I can’t reach something, I use a stool. If I can’t drive the car, I employ a driver. It’s as simple as that,” Ajay said. He began as a child artiste in 1984 with Ambili Ammavan. When he is not shooting, he divides his time between television programmes and stage shows. He has led his own troupe to various stage shows in the US, Europe and West Asia.