Fahadh Faasil (born 8 August 1982), often called FaFa, is an Indian actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema and also in Tamil and Telugu films. After a disastrous debut as a teenager he left the industry for seven years, returned in character parts and became the face of the wave of realistic, writer-driven films that transformed Malayalam cinema in the 2010s. He has won a National Film Award and several Kerala State Film Awards, and is known across India for his roles in Pushpa and Vikram.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Fahadh Faasil |
| Born | 8 August 1982, Alappuzha, Kerala |
| Age | 44 |
| Occupation | Actor, producer |
| Years active | 2002; 2009–present |
| Known for | Maheshinte Prathikaaram, Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, Kumbalangi Nights, Joji, Pushpa, Aavesham |
| Father | Fazil (director) |
| Spouse | Nazriya Nazim (m. 2014) |
| Awards | National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor (2017 films); Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor (2013) |
Early Life
Fahadh is the son of Fazil, a successful director of Malayalam and Tamil films, and Rozina. He has two sisters and a younger brother, Farhaan, who also acts. He went to schools in Alappuzha, Ooty and Tripunithura and to Sanatana Dharma College in Alappuzha.
At nineteen he was launched as the hero of his father’s romance Kaiyethum Doorath (2002). The film failed badly, and reviewers were harsh about the newcomer. He has said that the fault was his own, for arriving unprepared. He left for the United States, where he studied at the University of Miami for several years, first engineering and then philosophy, without completing a degree, and watched a great many films.
Career
He came back in 2009 with a short part in the anthology Kerala Cafe and took small, unglamorous roles. In Chaappa Kurishu (2011) he played an arrogant builder, and in 22 Female Kottayam (2012) a charming man who betrays his lover, performances that announced a different kind of actor. Diamond Necklace, Annayum Rasoolum and Amen followed, and in 2013 he won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for Artist and North 24 Kaatham. The ensemble hit Bangalore Days (2014) widened his audience.
Maheshinte Prathikaaram (2016), Dileesh Pothan’s gentle comedy about a small-town photographer who vows to go barefoot until he has avenged a public beating, is a landmark of the period. For the same director’s Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum (2017), in which he played a nameless thief who swallows a stolen gold chain, he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was a menacing, smiling husband in Kumbalangi Nights (2019), which he co-produced, an obsessive young man in Trance, the son who plots against his father in Joji (2021), a version of Macbeth set on a Kerala plantation, a community leader ageing across decades in Malik, and a man trapped by a landslide in Malayankunju. Critics often single out his eyes and his ability to suggest thought without speech.
In Tamil he appeared in Velaikkaran and Super Deluxe, joined Kamal Haasan and Vijay Sethupathi in the blockbuster Vikram (2022) and played a caste-proud politician in Maamannan (2023). In Telugu he was the shaven-headed police officer Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, adversary of Allu Arjun, in Pushpa: The Rise (2021) and Pushpa 2: The Rule (2024).
Aavesham (2024), in which he played a flamboyant Bengaluru gangster adopted by three college students, earned more than 150 crore rupees and was the biggest solo hit of his career. He acted with Rajinikanth in Vettaiyan, and in 2026 was part of the ensemble of the spy thriller Patriot, with Mammootty and Mohanlal.
As a producer, through Fahadh Faasil and Friends and with the film-makers Dileesh Pothan and Syam Pushkaran, he has backed films such as Kumbalangi Nights, Joji and Premalu.
Personal Life
He married the actor Nazriya Nazim, his co-star in Bangalore Days, on 21 August 2014. In 2024 he said publicly that he had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the age of forty-one. He avoids social media and gives few interviews.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Fahadh Faasil born?
Fahadh Faasil was born on 8 August 1982 in Alappuzha, Kerala and is 44 years old.
What is Fahadh Faasil known for?
Known for: Maheshinte Prathikaaram, Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, Kumbalangi Nights, Joji, Pushpa, Aavesham.
What honours has Fahadh Faasil received?
National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor (2017 films); Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor (2013).
Featured image: Fahadh Faasil during an interview, August 2019. Photo by Asianet, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
