Rajisha Vijayan is back. Vivacious and articulate, Rajisha had made a memorable debut in Anuraga Karikkin Vellam in 2016, bagged the Kerala State award for the best actress and then almost did a disappearing act from cinema. In 2016, she was the toast of Mollywood with her no-holds-barred portrayal of a spirited woman who cannot take no for an answer. Since then, she acted in two flicks — Georgettan’s Pooram and Oru Cinemakaran . June , which released on Friday, is only her third film.
Where were you Rajisha?
“I was always waiting for June,” she laughs, as we catch up on the phone while she was in between hectic promotions for her film.
“After Anuraga Karikkin Vellam , I began getting roles that resembled Ely, my character in the film. Many people did not even know my real name and kept referring to me as Ely. Thanks to the State award, people got to know my real name. While the adulation was nice, I did not want to keep repeating myself and so my hopes were pinned on June. I did not mind waiting for her,” says the former VJ and television hostess who has also dabbled in theatre.
Waiting for June
Ahammed Khabeer, the director of June , had told her the story immediately after her debut in cinema. Since she enjoyed the story of June Sarah Joy, Rajisha decided to give it her best shot. “But then we could not find a producer. Ahammed had approached 17 producers but nothing worked,” recalls Rajisha.
Finally, it was serendipity that put her in touch with Vijay Babu who agreed to listen to the story. He enjoyed the tale of June and her journey and agreed to produce it under his banner, Friday Film House. “This is the same banner that supported so many off-beat films such as Angamaly Diaries and Aadu and struck gold. So, that was a stroke of good luck indeed,” she says.
Moreover, she adds that June required that much of time for preparation as she appears in six different get-ups because June spans about 10 years in the film, from 16 to 26.
Rajisha Vijayan
So Rajisha had to lose weight to play the teenager June and chop her tresses. Although she was not very keen on cutting her long hair, both Vijay Babu and the director felt that going in for short hair would help her get into the shoes of June, the school girl.
“Nevertheless, when the scissors touched my hair, I wanted to cry. But then I was told to wear the uniform to see how I looked. The minute I did that, I became June and then the loss of my mane did not really matter,” she adds.
Rajisha gushes that the script has painted a realistic picture of a young girl in Kerala and, more importantly, presented the story from her perspective. Most films in Malayalam present a story from the male protagonist’s point of view or the director’s or the cameraman’s and many a time woman appear as props in the film or help the director advance the hero’s story. “A film like June , which tells her story and about her world is rare, especially a light-hearted one,” asserts Rajisha.
It does not stop with her student years. Instead, the film follows June and tracks how her relationship with her family and friends and with herself evolves as she becomes a young woman. “It is about her choices, her decisions, disappointments, confusion and celebrations. It is the story of any young woman growing up in Kerala,” says Rajisha.
Aswathy Menon [of ‘Walking in the moonlight’ fame] essays June’s mother while Joju George dons the role of her father. There are 16 debutants in the film who attended a workshop conducted by actor-director Siddartha Siva. In addition to the director, the cinematographer Jithin Stanislaus and music director Ifthi are also newcomers. Shot in Kottayam, Kochi, Mumbai and Varkala, the film unfolds mostly in Kottayam and Mumbai.
“We were like a family on the sets because we were spending so much time together, right from April 2018 onwards. Some of the actors who act as my classmates also had to grow up during the duration of the film,” says Rajisha.
Director’s actor
Talking about her acting process, she says she does not have a role model as such. “But I have always been a student of cinema, Indian and world cinema. As a student of journalism and mass communication, one of my subjects was cinema and that exposed me to some of the classics of cinema,” she explains.
A keen follower of actors like Kalki Koechlin and Konkona Sen Sharma and the greats of yesteryear, she says all their works must have inspired her subconsciously.
“But I am not a blessed actor, who can go to a set and then become the character all of a sudden. I do not watch reference films. But I leave myself completely to the director. I need to do my homework and I become the character even on the sets — her mannerisms, her reactions, the way she would laugh. I would need to know what is her favourite food, her colour, the kind of songs she listens to… all that helps me.”
She says with a laugh that in June , she got the opportunity to relive her school days and her college days, all in a matter of hours! “That was great fun, getting to be a student all over again!”
Student of the year indeed.
