Parvathy does it again. Her flawless act as Sameera in Mahesh Narayanan’s Take Off has been winning her accolades. She became the first Indian actor to win the best actress award at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and then she went on to win the Kerala State Film award for the best actress as well. And now she has won the special mention of the jury when the National awards for cinema was announced by Shekhar Kapoor on Friday.
“I was able to listen to the announcement at home, with my family. Yes, I am happy that my work is recognised and it is wonderful to be acknowledged,” she says. In the next breath, she adds how important it is to remain grounded in her line of work as it is so easy to get carried away with the praise or get disheartened by the criticism. “Like, after the IFFI award, I went straight to work in Anjali Menon’s film and I think that was so important to have got the opportunity to go back to where it all really happens,” she explains.
Parvathy is excited about the good words Shekhar Kapoor had to say about Malayalam cinema and how the industry has always been ahead of other film industries in terms of content and visual narration. “I felt like ‘Ýay! I am part of the gang.’ That feels great indeed.”
Moreover, she is thrilled that Santosh Raman won the award for his extraordinary work on the sets of Take Off . She points out how he was able to achieve this on a shoe-string budget. “We shot the hospital scenes in Thammanam in Kochi. Santosh had put up the sets of a three-storeyed hospital in Kochi. It was mind-boggling. I would go from my home, enter this place and be transported to a hospital in Iraq. His work was that good and it helped us actors to get a feel of the war zones in Iraq,” she says.
Although not burdened by the weight of expectations in her next projects, Parvathy admits that such awards do place a sense of responsibility on the winners. “Awards are like a pat of appreciation from the jury and viewers. It is almost like them saying: ‘So, you have done well, we expect you to carry on doing good work’. To do that good work, we need good directors and scenarists who are able to come up with characters like those in Take Off and Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum . That is so important,” she avers.
Parvathy
She continues: “You know, I think after an award like this, it is important to keep asking yourself if you are becoming complacent. I keep doing that. One must keep challenging oneself to do well in any profession. So, I see myself at home on the equator and the two poles as success and failure. One can be pushed in either direction. Then it is important to get back to the equator, which is home. I try to keep doing that.”
In an earlier interview, the 30-year-old actor had said: “The year 2017 has been very eventful and liberating. I feel I was in a slumber till now. I have never felt so alive and aware.” It was a year that saw her 12-year-old career take off in new directions. While her work won her international-, national- and state-level film awards, her candid speak won her bouquets and brickbats in equal measure and made her a spokesperson of gender equality in the patriarchal world of cinema.
Parvathy’s career, so far, has been defined by her success in films. “The commercial success that came with Anjali Menon’s Bangalore Days helped me in getting my work noticed. Movies like Ennu Ninte Moideen , Charlie and Take Off in Malayalam and Hindi flick Qarib Qarib Singgle opposite Irrfan Khan have given me opportunities to understand my craft and that hunger remains unabated,” she asserts. However what made her the most discussed person in Mollywood was when she called out the rampant sexism and misogyny in Malayalam cinema, both on screen and off the screen.
Parvathy has completed working for Anjali’s new untitled work and plays the lead in My Story. Parvathy clarifies that her fascination for cinema and her work was never a search for fame or popularity. “I knew that someday I would have to leave this behind. So there was no confusion in my mind that if I had to choose between leaving and living, it would be living,” she says.
With quiet determination, she says that some time ago, she was planning to settle abroad but now she avers her place is right here in India. Way to go Parvathy!
