Manikandan Thonnakkal is an Indian teacher, a YouTuber, a voice-over artist, and an actor, who has worked mainly in the Malayalam television industry.He is a Malayalam teacher and is passionate about literature, agriculture, and epics.He works as a manager at Sree Gokulam Medical Centre, Attingal.He has also featured in over 25 Malayalam serials.During the lockdown in India due to the Covid 19 pandemic, when all businesses got shut down and even the educational institutions were closed, the idea of making content on YouTube struck Manikandan. He started a channel called Maniyan Speaking in May 2021, which garnered over 10 thousand subscribers over time. He posts short videos on various topics including language, literature, mythology, and humour.He entered the Bigg Boss season 4 (Malayalam) house as its first wild card contestant on the 20th day of the show as a common man. Manikandan Thonnakkal in BiggBoss 4.Reportedly, he was assigned the duty to make sure that all the remaining contestants converse only in Malayalam especially Daisy David and Nimisha PS. He was given this task because the show was being criticised as the contestants kept breaking all the house rules despite several warnings from the host of the show, Mohanlal.On the 27th day of the show, Manikandan took a quick exit from the reality show and walked out of the show because of some health issues.