There is nothing wishy-washy about Catherine Maria, the matter-of-fact screen cop who shines in Midhun Manuel Thomas’ Anjaam Pathiraa , the thriller that is making waves at the box office. For architect-actor Unnimaya Prasad, it was a role that she took on after taking Shyju Khalid’s advice to go ahead and do the part of a police officer on the heels of a cunning serial killer.
“It was casting brilliance as they decided to break away from the usual casting by giving me that role. Hats off to the team, to director Mithun and cinematographer Shyju. He encouraged me to go ahead and do it. And that gave me the conviction that I could pull it off,” says Unnimaya.
She adds that during the filming of Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum , she was able to observe police officers, their mannerisms, discussions and body language in the course of her work as assistant director of the film.
“Moreover, most of the cast and crew are my friends, be it Mithun, Shyju, Kunchacko (Boban, who plays the lead) or Sreenath Bhasi. In fact, my first film as an actor was in Shyju’s film ‘Sethulakshmi’ in the anthology 5 Sundarikal . With this team, I was comfortable about asking them whether my take was fine or if I needed to improve my scene. That was helpful in breathing life into Catherine,” says Unnimaya, happy about the response she has evoked from viewers. Unlike the fire-breathing women cops in many Malayalam films or the glam girls who slip into figure-hugging khaki, Unnimaya’s police officer is your ordinary hardworking, no-nonsense cop who gets pulled up by her superiors and can take it without bursting into tears or throwing a tantrum. Catherine works with her team to nab a psychopathic serial killer and her act aced the role without any melodrama.
The casting director of Maheshinte Prathikaram, she says a casting director’s job is not to pick any good actor but to look for a character in a person and keep in mind that character’s description while casting. “It is to find out whose mannerisms match that of the character the most. The casting is for the character. There are no definite rules, and requirements keep changing with every character,” she explains.
Having worked on both sides of the camera, as actor, assistant director and casting director, certainly has helped her career arc in films. Her enthusiasm for cinema is evident in her voice as she explains how watching a film made and the discussions among the cast and crew that shape a film have moulded the actor in her. “You understand how a script is interpreted by master craftsmen in cinema and how a director interprets a character and a scene for an actor and how he/she interprets the character in accordance with the director’s vision and how he again defines it during the actual portrayal of that role during a shoot. For instance, an actor like Fahadh [Faasil] is amazing. He never ceases to surprise us,” she says.
As an example, she highlights a scene from Kumbalangi Nights , when Shammi, Fahadh’s character, eavesdrops on the sisters talking in the kitchen and joins them in the discussion. “The scene required Shammi to be near the kitchen door and ask the sisters if they were discussing him. So we had kind of worked out how Fahadh might portray the scene so that the cameraman could position the lights and camera. But Fahadh surprised all of us. He made it ever so creepy by peeping into the kitchen with a smirk and saying his lines. It was superb. He never sticks to a template. That is the kind of work you see while working behind the camera,” says Unnimaya.
An architect from the College of Engineering Trivandrum, Unnimaya says she was always drawn towards cinema and was waiting for a chance to work in films.
Agreeing that multi-tasking as an architect and actor/assistant director is not easy, she says she manages to do both by prioritising. “So, if I need to go for a site visit for my architectural work, I do that first. But one can’t take a break during shooting. There are at least 150 people on the sets. This certainly involves quality planning over time and can only be possible with the support of my architect colleagues, all better than me,” she explains.
The passionate cine buff she is, Unnimaya says reading a script, listening to a character description, a scene description and then trying to figure out how it will be portrayed is perhaps the best part of being an assistant director.
Although not committed to a new project, Unnimaya will be seen in Pada and Halal Love Story and she will also be working in Thangam , their own production.
