Krishna Kumar Menon (born 2 October 1966), known professionally as Kay Kay Menon, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Hindi cinema, and occasionally in Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu films. He is best known for his roles in films such as Black Friday (2004), Deewar (2004), Sarkar (2005), Shaurya (2008), Gulaal (2009), Haider (2014), Baby (2015), The Ghazi Attack (2017). He has starred in web series such as Special Ops, Farzi, The Railway Men and Citadel: Honey Bunny. He is regarded as one of the most influential actors in cinema of India.
Early life Menon was born into a Malayali family in Kozhikode, Kerala and raised in Ambarnath and Pune, Maharashtra, India. He studied at the St. Joseph High School in Khadki, Pune. He passed his 10th grade in 1981. He did his Bachelors (Physics) from Mumbai University and his MBA from Department of Management Sciences (PUMBA) at the University of Pune, graduating in 1988 with a major in Marketing. Menon's initial focus was working in the advertising industry, including Kinetic Honda and Marlboro cigarette advertisements in India.
Career He started his career in theatre productions where he met Nivedita Bhattacharya, whom he married. His first theatre break was opposite Naseeruddin Shah in Feroz Abbas Khan'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 Rishtey (Ward no. 6) and Saturday Suspense episodes. He was praised for his role as a young Prime Minister in the Zee TV series Pradhan Mantri (2001), directed by Ketan Mehta. In The Hindu, 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, 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, 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, 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) and Silsiilay (with Shahrukh Khan) 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's Sarkar, Menon had his break. Sarkar earned him a nomination for the Best Performance in a Negative Role at the Filmfare Awards. In The Tribune, Saibal Chatterjee called him "one of Bollywood's finest actors".
In 2007, he acted in Life in a... Metro as an adulterous husband, Enemmy (2013), and Rahasya (2015). In 2008, he appeared in Shaurya based on A Few Good Men . His portrayal of a ruthless army brigadier is still talked of among cinema lovers. In 2009, he starred in The Stoneman Murders 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 Haider bagged him a Filmfare and IIFA award for Best Supporting Actor. He played a very crucial role in The Ghazi Attack 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.
In 2018, Menon made his debut in Marathi film in Ek Sangaychay - Unsaid Harmony, directed by Lokesh Gupte. To prepare for his role, Menon took Marathi lessons for speaking, though he could understand by hearing.
He impressed and gained more popularity with a role as Himmat Singh in Special Ops (2020), a Hotstar web series. In 2021, he again played the young version of Himmat Singh (R&AW leading officer) in Special Ops 1.5, the prequel to Special Ops.
Personal life Menon married his longtime girlfriend Nivedita Bhattacharya in 2002.
Filmography
Films Year Title Role Notes 1995 Naseem Islamic fundamentalist 1999 Bhopal Express Verma 2002 Chhal Karan Menon 2003 Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi Siddharth Tyabji 2004 Black Friday DCP Rakesh Maria Deewaar Sohail Miyaan Silsiilay Anwar Ahmed Bhoy 2005 Sarkar Vishnu Nagare Dansh Mathew Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh Akash Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena Kaif 2006 Corporate Ritesh Sahani Shoonya Mahendra Naik 2007 Strangers Sanjeev Rai Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. Partho Sen Life in a... Metro Ranjit Kapoor Go Nagesh Rao 2008 Sarkar Raj Vishnu Nagare Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam Haldi Hasan Mumbai Meri Jaan Suresh Via Darjeeling Ankur Sharma Shaurya Brigadier Rudra Pratap Singh Sirf Gaurav Drona Riz Razaida 2009 The Stoneman Murders Sanjay Shelar Gulaal Dukey Banna Aage se right Janubhai/Baima Rashidul Kairi Sankat City Guru 2010 Tera Kya Hoga Johnny Inspector Shashikant Chiple Lafangey Parindey Anna Cameo Benny And Babloo Benny 2011 Bheja Fry 2 Ajit Talwar Bhindi Bazaar Shroff 2012 Chaalis Chouraasi Albert Pinto Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi Salman Shahid War saab 2013 Enemmy CID Officer Naeem Shaikh ABCD: Any Body Can Dance Jehangir Khan Udhayam NH4 ACP Manoj Menon IPS Tamil film Ankur Arora Murder Case Dr. Viren Asthana 2014 Raja Natwarlal Vardha Yadav Haider Khurram Meer 2015 Baby Bilal Khan Rahasya CBI Officer Sunil Paraskar Bombay Velvet Investigative Officer Vishwas Kulkarni Singh Is Bliing Mark 2016 A Flying Jatt Mr. Rakesh Malhotra Saat Uchakkey Tejpal The Tiger Hunter Azeem Malik, Sami's father 2017 The Ghazi Attack Captain Ranvijay Singh Bilingual film2018 Dhaad Ghelo Gujarati film Vodka Diaries ACP Ashwini Dixit Baa Baaa Black Sheep ACP Shivraj Naik Phamous Kadak Singh Ek Sangaychay ACP Malhar Raorane Marathi film2019PenaltyVikram Singh2021ShaadisthanTiger Ji / Rajaji2023Love AllSiddharth Sharma2025ChampionQasim RazviTelugu film2026Dial 1975Govind
Television Year Show Episodes Role 1995-1996DarrInspector Avinash 1999Star Bestsellers - Zebra 2 Captain Rajeev 1999Star Bestsellers - Last Train to MahakaliSir1997-99Saturday Suspense 12(Woh Kaun Thi?), 16(The Assassin),
18(On the Run),
42(Breaking News),
68(Friends),
104(Beyond Truth)Inspector Vaali James Mathew
Aakash(Serial Killer)
Amar Rathore
Krishna Pandit
COP Ankush 2000Rishtey - Ward No. 6111Doctor Rajat 2001Pradhan MantriPM Anirudh Prakash2004CID (Indian TV series)Episode number 111, (World Record One Signal Cut 111 Minute) 2005 Time Bomb 9/11 Prime Minister of India 2010 F.I.R. Benny 2014YudhMunicipal Commissioner
Streaming series Year Title Role Platform Notes 2018 The Great Indian Dysfunctional Family Vikram Ranaut ALTBalaji 2020 Special OPS Himmat Singh Disney Plus Hotstar 2021 Ray Inderashish Netflix Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story Himmat SinghDisney Plus Hotstar2023FarziMansoor DalalAmazon Prime VideoBambai Meri JaanIsmail KadriThe Railway MenIftekaar SiddiquiNetflix2024Shekhar HomeShekhar HomeDisney Plus HotstarMurshidMurshid PathanZEE5Citadel: Honey BunnyGuruAmazon Prime Video2026Adarsh Baal VidyalayaGyaneswar Tripathy
Short film(s) Year Title2019 Sparsh The Last Chapter
References
External links
Kay Kay Menon at Twitter