The Ullozhukku actress talks about playing strong characters and their complexities, acting with her dream filmmakers, and why some uncomfortable questions should be asked to the right people.
Edited excerpts:
‘Parvathy’ is synonymous with strong women characters. Have you ever considered playing weak women just to get into the psyche of those kinds of people?
When I started acting in cinema, I came in at a time when a certain wave started and it just so happened that it collided and I just rode that wave. I had no strategy or a PR team. It wasn’t that I planned to do this. It’s literally what comes to me and to what I intuitively feel like saying yes. It wasn’t as it is, allegedly, people say it’s all about wokeness and stuff. I just genuinely connected with that and I did that. But at this point, when I look back, I realize I hadn’t actually looked at them as just strong women. Tessa (from Charlie) was equally lost as she was strong. Kanchanamala (from Ennu Ninte Moideen) was as weak as she was strong. The fact is, these traits can’t not co-exist.
Do you also sometimes select films because you want to work with a particular filmmaker? Take Pa. Ranjith and Thangalaan: is he one of the main reasons, or do you prefer to know your role first and then do it?
Ranjith said that he never does narration, but he gave me an actual narration of the entire film because I told him I wanted that. But he never resisted and then I asked him more questions about the character and (judging by his reaction), I realised that maybe I shouldn’t ask him questions. I’ve been wanting to work with him for a long time. When I heard about my character, it didn’t really stand out because he gave me a screenplay narration, not a character one. But when I went to the set and workshop, I realised we were going to co-create this character. I love that about Ranjith’s point of view. So, it was Ranjith initially, but then the character took care of us.
Anjali Menon recently posted about the absence of women in recent Malayalam movies. One section of the audience has been supporting her and another has been asking, “These are the stories of men and how can you force-fit women into them?” How do you look at this?
First of all, it was the media that brought up the question, and I was happy that, for the first time, it was not us asking any of those questions. It’s taken a good seven years of our lives doing that. Yes, these are stories about men and I completely agree that you can’t force it. But this concern… Are we asking it to the right people?
Watch the full interview at:
