The grandmother receives the kiss of life in Malayalam cinema. Finally. Long-suffering, self-effacing, tradition-bound grandmas of the past have been given a farewell. Enter the feisty grandma and all she wants to do is to have fun.
While Jude Anthany Joseph’s Oru Muthashi Gadha (OMG) makes audiences go ‘aww’, Bhagyalakshmi is having a grand time at the marquee as Susamma, the grandmother with a sunny attitude in the film. She counterpoints the acerbic and bullish grandmother played so delightfully by newcomer Ragini Chandy.
Bhagyalakshmi says it was impossible not to be charmed by the story. “OMG is such a positive tale that mirrors many of our homes today. So many families in Kerala are trying to understand how to bridge the generation gap. I believe that old age homes are proliferating because grandparents and their families refuse to talk with each other or address their problems. The easy way out is to opt for nuclear families or leave the grandparents in an old age home. This movie is pertinent to our society. That is why I was happy to be a part of the team when Jude narrated the story for me,” she explains.
Unlike many actors, male and female, who shy away from acting their age, and (shudder) acting grandmas or grandpas on screen, the stylish Bhagyalakshmi had no qualms in stepping into the role of a matriarch. “What is in it? I have a 29-year-old son and most people know that. I have no hassles in admitting my age or playing a character older than me in reel life. What I would dislike is playing predictable characters.”
She could identify with Susamma because she herself does not like going around with a long face or dump tales of disappointments and sadness on all those willing to lend her a ear. “I dislike talking about difficulties and disappointments. I would much rather talk about happy people and incidents. So all I had to do was be myself while acting in the film,” she says.
During the shooting of OMG Jude hardly interfered in any of the shots and at one point Bhagyalakshmi asked him if it was because she was beyond redemption as an actress that he did not have much to tell her. He assured her that it was because she was essaying the Susamma in his mind so well, there was no need for any such directions.
As Bhagyalakshmi herself admits with a laugh, both Jude and she have a reputation for being “short tempered” and so both of them went out of their way to avoid a situation that might result, even remotely, in a confrontation.
She adds that she herself was surprised to discover the actor in her. Bhagyalakshmi found her voice as an award-winning dubbing artiste and for a long time was quite happy to be the voice of several award-winning acts.
Last year, after a long break, she stepped out in front of the camera and proved that she could ace her act as an actor as well in Pa.Va . But she was in no hurry to sign up films and that is when Jude came calling with the role of Susamma. “I was clear that I did not want to do those tearful mother and sister acts. But this was such a refreshing change and I felt there was a message that was being conveyed without being preachy,” she says.
She points out that the film emphasises that senior citizens also have ambitions and dreams of their own and they don’t stop living because they have crossed a certain age. “I know so many senior citizens who are leading an active life and I also know many who have been forcibly retired by their families by isolating them from their interests and areas of work. There is so much they have to share and we have much to learn from them,” believes Bhagyalakshmi.
In OMG, Susamma persuades the bully Leela to come up with a bucket list and that is what eventually brings about a twist in the story. Does Bhagyalakshmi, a brilliant dubbing artiste, best-seller author and television hostess, have a bucket list of her own? “Yes, I have but it is not a personal one. I am completely self-made and from zero, I have reached till here. So I count my blessings. But my ambition is to make a good documentary on the dubbing industry in Malayalam and dubbing artistes. I also want to turn that into a book.”
Reel grandmas who bucked the trend with acts that immortalised those characters.
* Sheela as Kochutresia in Sathyan Anthikkad’s Manassinakkare
* Philomena as Muthashi in Siddique-Lal’s In Harihar Nagar
* Philomena as Aanappara Achamma in Siddique-Lal’s Godfather
* Padmini as Kunjoonjamma Thomas in Fazil’s Nokkethadoorathu Kannum Nattu
