A rchana Kavi hasn’t had a high flying career in Mollywood, in spite of a dream debut with Neelathamara . But the year ahead looks promising, with the actor even moving on to the miniscreen. She anchors ‘Sundari Neeyum Sundaran Njaanum’, a reality show for television actors on Asianet, aired Monday to Thursday at 8 p.m. Archana talks about her career, the show and forthcoming projects. Excerpts…
Being on television
Very few people know that before making my acting debut, I was anchoring the show ‘Bloody Love’ on Yes Indiavision. But the channel and the show didn’t reach out to many people. The interesting fact is that I actually wanted to get into radio and not television. Having grown up in Delhi, I was forever on stage, taking part in cultural programmes. Crowds used to give me a kick! When I came to Kerala, I missed all that. So through my friends in Kochi, I tried to get work in radio. But I couldn’t speak fluent Malayalam. When the offer from Yes Indiavision came, they were okay with my language limitations. However, before people could recognise me as an anchor, I got Neelathamara . So, in a way, I was a fresh face for the audience.
Why ‘Sundari Neeyum Sundaran Njaanum’?
Frankly speaking, I want to reconnect with the Malayali audience since I haven’t done a Malayalam movie for long.
I’m not very confident about my Malayalam and because of that my PR skills are very bad. As such some may even misinterpret my lack of communication skills as arrogance or an attitude problem. But in the case of ‘Sundari…’, the channel did not have any major issue with my language or pronunciation.
Another plus point is that the show gets over in three months.
The format
It has super stars of the mini-screen divided into six pairs fighting it out in rounds based on dance, music and skit. (The contestants are Anu Joseph – Aneesh Ravi, Beena Antony – Manoj, Rajesh Hebbar – Sona Nair, Renjith Raj – Leena Nair, Tosh Christy – Dimple Rose and Kaviraj – Sini Varghese). Malayalis are hooked on serials and so the show will appeal to many. And, trust me, these contestants are very serious about their performances.
The judges
We’ve KPAC Lalitha, Ranjini Haridas, Kaniha, Sudheesh and Tini Tom. It is great to have Lalitha chechi as a judge, since she is a very good critic. Ranjini Haridas is a super star on the small screen.
A busy year ahead?
I don’t know whether it will be a busy one, but I trying to get back on track. I’m shooting my first Telugu movie, Back Bench Student , directed by Madhura Sridhar with Mahat Raghavendra and Piaa Bajpai. In Malayalam, I’ve Abhiyum Njaanum , Nadodi Mannan , Kukriyal and Jean Paul Lal’s new movie too in the works.
