Srinda sounds like a bubbly teenager on the other side of the phone when she talks about her roles, her family, son Arhaan, and recent selfie moment with Mammootty. “I just landed in this industry and I’m in a happy space now,” she says with glee.
Srinda is an actress who has always stood out for her performance irrespective of the length of her roles. She feels everything just happened at the right time for her. College life was great fun, with her dabbling in dance, drama and even writing. “Everything was worth a try...”
But acting was not something she never thought she would take up.
“I wanted to do higher studies abroad, and get a white collar job. I had worked with an MNC in Kochi, before modelling and films happened. Somewhere deep down I always nurtured that ambition to do something creative and my family always gave me that space to experiment. First came modelling and photo shoots, which I love to do even now,” she says.
Her first movie was Four Friends , in which played sister to Jayasurya’s character. Srinda admits that she was never serious about acting while doing the role. Her outlook changed once she got to assist Rafi Mecartin in China Town and later worked as a translator for the non-Malayali heroines in Rosshan Andrrews’ Casanova . “I got to know more about cinema, its technical side and slowly fell in love with the medium. In the meantime I had acted in an in-house advertisement for a hospital as a nurse. It was directed by Dileesh Nair, one of the scriptwriters of Salt N’ Pepper . He was then working on the script of 22 Female Kottayam along with Abhilash Nair. Aashiq Abu was then on the look out for a face to play Jincy and Dileesh suggested my name. I was then working on the sets of Diphan’s Hero as translator for Yami Gautam. When he came to know that I had got his offer, he asked me to go ahead. That movie changed my life for ever. I realised that I could act,” Srinda says with a giggle.
After playing bold Jincy, she followed it up with a feisty but hapless Fazila in Annayum Rasoolum , outspoken Ruchi in Artist and the simpleton Susheela in 1983 .
Srinda is currently working in Homely Meals , directed by Anoop Kannan. She sounds very excited about the movie which has its scriptwriter Vipin Atlee playing the lead. “The film deconstructs the concept of a hero in tinsel town. I play a character who supports him throughout. Many people who nurture celluloid dreams will be able to relate to him.”
She is also acting in Salam Bappu’s Manglish , as Mammootty’s sister. “I was told that he is very serious and I was trembling while acting with him. But he came across as a totally different person. He has a great sense of humour and I felt very comfortable working with him.”
One thing that this 28-year-old stresses is that she is not on a signing spree. “When I get an offer, I say yes only if I find there is something exciting about it. I also ensure that I don’t have to stay away from home for many days. Most of the films I’ve done till now have been shot in and around Kochi, which means I am not away from home for a long time,” she says, adding: “A balancing factor of my life has been my family. They are neither excited nor indifferent to what I am doing. That keeps me grounded. Fazila and Susheela are their favourite characters.”
Has ever motherhood come in the way of the roles being given to her? “Not at all. I strongly believe that motherhood makes a woman complete. I feel that aspect has given a different dimension to the roles I’ve played…,” she signs off.
