After dazzling the audience with her stellar performance in Shaji N. Karun’s Kutty Srank , actor Kamalini Mukherjee returns to Mollywood with V.K. Prakash’s Netholi Oru Cheriya Meen Alla . The petite actor, who is looking forward to the release of Netholi… on February 7, says: “If I played Pemmana, a woman from another era in Kutty Srank , in Netholi… , I play a woman of today.” Excerpts from an interview with the actor over the phone…
A ‘fishy’ tale
My character, Prabha, in Netholi… is an athletic person. She is fiercely independent and although she seems a tough nut to crack, she is really a ‘softie’. There is a certain level of duality in her; she is a bit childish in some ways and mature in others. I love the way she has been etched on screen. One can see the different layers of the character as the story progresses. Prabha is a complete opposite to Pemmana in Kutty Srank . Pemmana’s is a coming-of-age story.
A challenge
Playing Prabha and Pemmana were both challenging as they are unlike me. A character I found rather easy to play, and one I hold close to heart is that of Seetha Mahalakshmi in Sekhar Kammula’s Godavari , a Telugu movie. Seetha is a lot like me. I have acted in various South Indian languages: Telugu films such as Anand , Gamyam and Virodhi , Tamil movies, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu and Kadhalna Summa Illai and Kannada film, Saveri . I am good at languages and have managed to pick up Telugu and can form simple sentences. I still find Malayalam tough though. I had a diction and dialogue coach, Ambika Rao, who helped me to lip-sync dialogues. She explained the lines to me and showed me how to deliver the lines at the right pitch and speed.
Shooting mayhem
It was a young team working for Netholi… and we had a good time. V.K. Prakash is an easy person to work with and Fahadh Faasil, who is my co-star in the film, is intense as an actor. I was glad to be back in Kochi as I had shot in the city earlier for Kutty Srank . I ate a lot of fish curry during the shoot, which kept me very happy.
Roots in theatre
Even as a child, I used to act in various amateur and professional stage plays; I loved taking centre stage. Theatre gave me the confidence to bring myself in front of the camera.
I started out doing commercials and it was through an advertisement that I was cast for my debut movie Phir Milenge . I was apprehensive at first, but my family had full faith in me. I haven’t worked in theatre in quite a while and I do miss it. The silver screen is consuming my time now.
Behind the scenes
I am stubborn, a ‘softie’, a recluse and slightly eccentric. I love reading books of any genre, writing, watching films…
I cook and my signature dish is meat loaf.
Up and coming
I will be starting shoot for an untitled Bengali film in March. I did a Bengali film last year called Aparajita Tumi by Aniruddha Roychowdhury. A couple of my friends and I plan to turn some of the stories I have written into a movie. I see myself writing and directing in the near future.
