Thanks to the lockdown, many of us have forgotten the scent of salty beach air and sound of soft waves crashing against the shore.
Unless, like Aathmika, you happen to live by the sea on East Coast Road, Chennai. The Meesaya Murukku actor laughs at the suggestion that she is making a whole city jealous with her Instagram posts.
“I didn’t want to create a controversy but you know, this time has allowed me to appreciate the beach and the view even more,” she says.
It is a recurring theme in our telephonic conversation; the actor is philosophical about the time for introspection that lockdown has afforded her.
“We live in this false reality, missing out on the essence of our livelihood. We run behind fame, money and popularity but have lost our basic happiness in the process. This situation we are facing is also Nature’s way of telling us to chill, and appreciate the little things we have missed out on. I have utilised this time to explore different things, learn new things like cooking and baking. I’m also learning Hindi language,” she adds.
Actor Aathmika
If you are thinking, like the rest of Tamil Twitter that, perhaps, the Prime Minister’s speeches are what nudged this Chennai ponnu to start Hindi lessons, think again. Aathmika was offered a role in an Aanand L Rai film but had to pass up on the Bollywood offer because the role required someone who is fluent in Tamil and Hindi.
“That was a moment of major regret for me. I have been an avid fan of Bollywood movies but I still am not able to pick up the language, so I thought no better time than now to start learning the language,” she says. We ask her if her Hindi difficulty level is in the range of ‘Raghu Thatha’, she laughs. “I’m not that worst! I can understand the language but I cannot reciprocate,” she adds.
Since her debut in Meesaya Murukku (2017), Aathmika has not had a Tamil film release on the big screen. The Karthick Naren-film Naragasooran was supposed to be her second outing, but the film ran into financial troubles.
For now, Aathmika has Studio Green Productions’ horror-thriller Katteri , where she co-stars with Vaibhav and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar; the film would have released had it not been for the lockdown.
Aathmika also has Kannai Nambathey directed by Mu Maran, which has Udhayanidhi Stalin in the lead, and an untitled film with Vijay Antony in the pipeline. She is also preparing to play the role of a chef in another Tamil film that is yet to begin production.
“I am happy to wait for good films to come my way. It is worse to give one hit only to follow it up with four flops. So I’m not worried about the time frame it would take me [to do films] because I’m here for the long run,” she says.
Actor Aathmika
Part of the motivation to aim for a sustained run in films comes from a change to her fitness regime because, in her words, “mental and physical health are interlinked”.
A diet plan which has seen her avoid dairy and gluten in her food has worked out well for the actor, although she has a word of caution for anyone wanting to follow someone else’s diet blindly.
“There are many options when it comes to diet. One needs to figure out what works for them because not always does one option work well for another person,” she says. She adds that she realized this herself when she attempted to turn vegan. “I tried [going vegan] but I ended up becoming malnourished. I needed the proteins,” she laughs.
The actor is also in discussion to star in a web series and expects OTT platforms to pick up business steam in this year. She concludes saying, “My only concern is that I need to choose a project which has a good director and content that makes it worth the risk I’m taking.”
