Anjana Jayaprakash, who stars in the recent Tamil sleeper hit Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru (D-16), still describes herself as an aspiring actress/model on her Facebook page.
In mid-2015, she was part of a short film, Muse (directed by Kannan R.K.) — the plot is about an educated sex worker who aspires to be an actress — that was well-received in the regional competition circuit. And before that, Anjana was pursuing a B. Tech degree in Fashion Technology at Kumaraguru College of Technology in Coimbatore.
“I’m from Kerala and grew up in the Gulf region. I was very introverted as a child, and it was actually my brother who was more passionate about movies and acting,” she says.
By early 2015, Karthick Naren, D-16 ’s 22-year-old director, had started pre-production work on his debut project. And that’s when he called her and spoke about the script. “Karthick was actually my junior in college. He dropped out when he was into his third year of mechanical engineering. But he was already into short filmmaking by then,” says Anjana. “We never really kept in touch… but we weren’t out of touch either.”
Anjana plays the part of Vaishnavi, a software engineer in D-16 , and her character cannot be squared into the template of a standard heroine. “People kept asking me whether I was the first lead or second lead. I couldn’t tell them because of the complex plot. Now that the film is out there for all to see, they will know,” she says.
“I’m very happy with the way the film has been received.”
D-16 is one of those Kollywood films that has veered away from the oft-used milieu of Chennai or Madurai. It has instead been shot almost entirely in the director’s hometown of Coimbatore. “And that matters a lot to people who are not from the ‘happening’ city (Chennai),” says Anjana.
What’s next in her pipeline of projects after D-16 ? “I have a few offers in Malayalam, and am presently in talks for a film with Prithviraj,” says Anjana. “Nothing else in Tamil for now.”
