Catholic Priest Quits To Act In Movie

KERALA, Sept. 03, 2010, 12:00 Hrs (CathNews):

A Catholic priest in Kerala has quit his clerical position after he faced objections from his Syro-Malanakara Church for acting in a Malayalam film released recently.

Johnson Karoor, 36, who acted in `Nirakkazhcha’ (waves of colour) directed by debutant Anish J. Karnad, claimed that he left the priesthood on his own to assert his creative freedom.

“It was my own decision to go out. I have been thinking about it for a long time before taking the decision,” Karoor told news agency PTI over phone.

Karoor acted in a near-villain role, named Jackson, as a friend of the hero, played by Italian actor Vincenzo Bocciarelli.

Karoor said he plans to act in more films and had already been cast in the next film `Criminal Love’ by the same director. Another film-maker had also approached me, he said.

Karoor admitted that he quit priesthood because he could not do justice to it while acting. “I am now trying to pursue my education and acting,” he said.

Anish, the director, said his film had got an Italian distributor who would release the film with subtitles in 600 theatres in that country.

It was shown in the Maratea film festival in Italy last month.