Aparna Nair is completely at peace with her career. What if a lead role hasn’t come her way yet? She would rather savour the success of movies in which she acted – be it Cocktail , Beautiful , Mallu Singh or Thattathin Marayathu .
“Each role is special for me…,” says Aparna, who never ever had an acting career on her wish list. The transformation and the journey have been smooth and surprising, right from her selection to the cast of Nivedyam (2007) by the late Lohitadas. Her photo on the cover of a vernacular magazine had caught his attention. She was doing her Plus Two then, with lots of prizes and titles to her credit as a classical dancer.
Post Nivedyam , her claim to fame was the play, Chayamukhi, which had her sharing the stage with Mohanlal and Mukesh. “I wasn’t serious about acting while doing Nivedyam . Somehow, academics was important, a reason why we moved from Kozhikode to Kochi,” she says. But the acting bug did bite her, finally, with Cocktail . “It was an important role that I got. I could work with a terrific team. Arun chettan (Arun Kumar Aravind who directed Cocktail ) suggested that I should go to Mumbai and brush up my acting skills, which I did,” she says.
Mumbai inspired and rejuvenated her. “It is not that anybody can teach you acting. But Mumbai being the hub of commercial cinema, the stay there helped me a lot,” she says. And what awaited her was the role in Beautiful . “I would say I played myself on screen in Beautiful ,” she says. Next she shot for Streetlight , an offbeat yet-to-be-released movie, in which she essayed four roles, that of four different stages of a woman’s career. She has also worked in a forthcoming untitled Telugu movie.
After a fair share of screen space in hit movies such as Mallu Singh (“a perfect entertainer”) and Thattathin Marayathu , she will be seen next in Joshiy’s Run Baby Run .
“I haven’t committed any film after that. In fact, I am waiting for something new, something fresh…” Like a lead role? “It is true that any actor would love to play the lead role. But, one can’t insist on getting such roles only. I did get a few offers, but somehow the roles didn’t excite me. I don’t want to be part of a film just for the sake of being in it,” she asserts.
Of late, the 22-year-old has been working hard on her diet. “After Cocktail , I started concentrating on my diet. I am taller than most of my co-stars and so unless I reduce my weight, I would look really bad on screen…!” she says with a laugh, adding, “In fact, I’m happy when I stand alongside Ammu chechi (Samvrutha Sunil). She is one of the tallest actors around!”
Dance helps her to stay fit. She has been giving semi-classical performances at many stage shows. “I don’t do cinematic dance, because that doesn’t suit me. Of course, I like watching them….” And she thanks her luck for having won appreciation from her role model, Vidya Balan, after her performance at an award function. “ It was so special… I took a snap with her…,” Aparna says with glee.
But one regret remains. That she couldn’t pursue her learning of Kathakali. “I can’t explain how sad I am when I think about it. We had a very strict teacher, Kalamandalam Sajan. We never got a smile from him. But the discipline that he instilled in me remains. I would really love to go back to my Kathakali classes. It needs many months’ practice… I wish I could find that much time,” Aparna says with a sigh.
