As a little girl, growing up in Coimbatore, Parvathy Ratheesh was unaware of her father, the late Ratheesh’s celebrity status. During vacation trips to Kerala she’d find people clicking photos of her father or she’d see his photos in publications. The attention her father got taught the little girl that films made one famous. She was slightly older when she started watching his films, she then began appreciating his work, “I like my father’s role as Mohan Thomas in Commissioner .” She also learnt that films involved hard work and somewhere along the line she decided she too wanted to be an actor just like him.
“Yes, my father being an actor played a big role in me wanting to be an actor,” she says over phone from Thiruvananthapuram where she is based.
The petite, light-eyed beauty is all set to make her debut with Sugeeth’s Madhura Naranga . It is a dream debut of sorts with the hit-making duo Kunchacko Boban and Biju Menon. Parvathy’s younger brother, Padmaraj, is also an actor. He will be next seen in the Mammootty—starrer Accha Din .
Being their father’s children ensured the film industry’s affection, “my brother and I have been able to do what we are doing because of our father.”
After her Plus Two when she told her mother that she wanted to act, her mother set a condition—that she complete her education and get qualified for a job. “She told me films were a risky profession and insisted that we were professionally qualified before we took the plunge. But I have always known that the film industry is where I’d end up.”
An MBA, she was working in Bengaluru when she quit her job to return to Thiruvananthapuram to help Padmaraj look after their ailing mother. A decision which made her mother unhappy, “she felt bad that I quit my job because of her. But I got this film before she passed away. She was happy in the knowledge that I was going to do something that I really wanted to. I got a good offer, everything just fell into place.”
She was at close family friend Suresh Kumar’s (producer) place when producer Anto Joseph met her. That chance meeting eventually landed her a role in the film. “My brother and I heard the script and liked it. Suresh uncle also gave me his inputs, he said it sounded good and I signed the film.”
Of her experience shooting the film, she says, more than being afraid, she was nervous. It was a nervousness born out of her unfamiliarity with the whole set-up. However, every step of the way, the film’s crew ensured she was comfortable.
She talks of how Kunchacko and Biju went out of their way to put her at ease. Biju Menon had acted with Ratheesh and that history made him protective. “Biju chettan wouldn’t let me sit alone or quietly. He would tell me to keep talking and Chackochan was constantly encouraging me. The entire crew was very kind and supportive.” Parvathy plays a Sri Lankan girl, Tamara, in the film, which is a love story. Parts of the film are set in the United Arab Emirates. Neeraj Madhav too features in the film.
She couldn’t be at the first day of shoot as it was the 41st day after her mother’s demise. She joined the set, in Dubai, the next day. She thought she’d be watching the shoot when Sugeeth asked to get makeup done and film a ‘small shot’. “The costume I wore on the first day, I wore for 20 days of the 34-day shoot there,” she says with a laugh.
The question about her parents is inevitable at this juncture of her life. She says, “I wish both my parents were here with us, that they could see how we were doing. And in relation to this film…the feedback of one’s parents would always be the most honest, isn’t it?”
Parvathy has been getting offers but she says she’ll commit only after Madhura Naranga’s release.
