“You know the excitement you feel for the little joys in life? Well, multiply that by 100 and that’s how I feel now!” says Rajisha Vijayan, who won the best actress award at this year’s Kerala State Film Awards.
Rajisha won the gong for her refreshing portrayal of Elizabeth a.k.a. Eli, a spirited, spunky young woman and spurned girlfriend to Asif Ali’s character in Anuraga Karikkin Vellam , directed by Khalid Rahman. “The award came as a complete surprise to me. Firstly, it was my debut film, I had no clue about acting and I never thought I’d make the cut. Secondly, I didn’t even know my name was being considered. Heck! I didn’t even know the film had been sent for the awards. I only got an inkling of it a couple of hours prior to the announcement. If there is a state that is beyond shock, that was what I was at the moment my name was announced. It’s all only beginning to sink in now and I’m starting to realise the gravity of the whole thing,” says Rajisha.
She won the popular vote as soon as the film hit the screens and Rajisha’s Eli became a poster girl of sorts for modern, upwardly mobile young women of Kerala, who are not afraid to speak their mind.
“Eli was a well-written character with a proper graph, which doesn’t happen often for heroines in Malayalam cinema. The story of Anuraga Karikkin Vellam travels through Eli. All credit to the director and scenarist for making her like that. I was but a tool to bring her to fruition. It was really a team effort,” she says, taking a moment to thank her family as well. “It’s not easy being an actress and they’ve been in there with me all this while,” she adds.
The journalism and mass communication student-turned-actor, a native of Kozhikode, is mindful that she has miles to go. “I am now on a list that features some of the greatest actresses in Malayalam cinema; women whom I look up to. The award comes with a responsibility to do good work in the future and I’m all game for it. That said, I would like to tell the audience that I’m but a newbie and I’m still finding my way. I promise to do my best. The thing is to not stop dreaming big, only then will you reach somewhere man!” says Rajisha.
The actor will now be seen in Georgettante Pooram , with Dileep, which is releasing at the end of the month. “I want to move out of Eli’s shadow. My character in the film is quite different from her,” says youngster, who is already hard at work on her third film, Oru Cinemakkaran , directed by Leo Thaddeus, in which she stars opposite Vineeth Sreenivasan. Way to go, Rajisha!
