Shilpa Manjunath of Malayalam film Rosapoo fame makes her Tamil debut through Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi's Kaali. Jyothsna Bhavanishankar talks to the passionate actress about Kaali and her experiences working in the film.
I am basically an engineer and I never had any thoughts about becoming an actress in those years. I was a national level Volleyball player and I was so much into sports and studies then. There was Miss Karnataka pageant and I wanted to try it out for the heck of it. I informed my parents that morning and left for the contest. I don't know what happened. I won the Miss Karnataka 2013 title that night. In a way, I should say my film career began that night. The event was so well publicized that it reached many producers and directors. Whatever studies we might do, be it engineering or medicine, I somehow feel it is a dry run or pitch practice for the real life. The main event is the decision that we take after our studies. That said, my studies and sports certainly help in my career in their own way.
In my mind I was the best actress. When I went for an audition for a Kannada film only, I realized that I knew nothing about acting. I went to theatre and learnt this craft for almost 6-8 months. After that I started doing road shows and videos. One of my videos, circulated all over Hyderabad, Karnataka and Chennai reached the hands of Kiruthiga ma'am and she video called me. My image of a director was an elderly person but when I saw Kiruthiga ma'am, I was in for a pleasant surprise. She is young and beautiful. I did not know about her political connection too. I spoke normally and she asked me to come to Chennai. When I came to Chennai, she sent a costumer, stylist to my room and I was dressed exactly like the character in Kaali (like the one in Arumbae) and was made to meet her. She gave me a few dialogues. I was so happy to have dressed in a sari, bindi, jewelry and in traditional attire, because in my real life, I am nothing like this. That's when I realized I like all these. I was so excited to be dressed that I goofed up my dialogues. She saw my enthusiasm and energy and I think I got the film.
When I went to the spot, I realized it is not a normal village belle character. You would have seen in the song from Kaali, that a young girl is married to a very old man. The emotions are new and different that I have never come across in my life. Artists will usually have an emotion box from which, they will take the apt ones for the scene to perform. But this was very new to me. When I was shooting at Thalakonam, I used to sit with the paattis, akkas and watch them how they speak, how they shake their heads, how they feel shy, how they sway their hips etc. I learnt these things on the spot. That made me do Parvati. There is also an age variation in my character in the film. I was getting prepared mentally also and towards the end of the shooting, I became Parvati and I liked being Parvati more than Shilpa.
Kiruthiga ma'am told me that my character is her favorite in the film and it requires a lot of diverse emotions. I felt her trust in me and I needed to justify that trust. Therefore, I never paid attention to who I was acting with. I was so keen to deliver my portions well.
But, on the spot, more than Parvati, I tried understanding Maari (Vijay Antony's character name). When you are in love, more than understanding yourself, you should understand your partner. That's when you will emote much better. I started understanding Maari. Whenever I used to see Vijay Antony sir, it was only Maari for me. It was easy performing.
Vijay Antony is an experienced person in the industry but industry was new to me. I was initially scared of him but he was so supportive. He has absolutely no ego. During the song shoots, I was not aware of how to catch the beat. Brinda master told me that we needed to complete the dance shoot in two days. I was tensed. I sought the help of Vijay Antony sir who suggested that we overact in the scenes and Brinda master Okayed it. That's how we complimented each other.
Kiruthiga is much sorted and has total clarity in her thoughts and expression. Usually, a scene will be taken in different angles and frames and we will be made to repeat our expressions be it in wide shot or close-up or tight. But Kiruthiga was so clear and had written even how the shots should be. So she saved on the time, energy and resources.
No, my scenes were only with Vijay Antony sir, RK Suresh sir and Vela Ramamurthy sir.
No, it was only challenging to me. If the other 3 had been newcomers, I would have taken it differently. But it is not the case here. I saw it as an opportunity to prove myself either equal to them or better than them. Anjali and Sunaina are established performers and I have even heard that Amritha has done a few films. Besides the three heroines, there are also RK Suresh and Vela Ramamurthy. I think I am the only newcomer. Somebody told me that when I am sharing screen space with Vijay Antony, it is natural for the audience to have their attention on him. But to make people watch me, I need to excel my own benchmark. That's when people will watch me. I realized that I needed to steal the screen space from him. I took this as a positive aspect and worked.
Yes, I did. I used to practice my dialogues, look up to dictionary to understand the meanings. I saw a few Tamil movies to learn about reactions. I wanted my emotions and performance to be the reference point for other artists. I worked towards it. Kiruthiga ma'am said my performance was good. Now it is for the audience to pass their judgement.
After Kaali, I did two Kannada films, one Malayalam film and I finished one Tamil film titled Perazhagi where I play dual roles, one of a grand mom and the other her granddaughter. It was a promising story with a debutant director. I am also doing another Tamil film for which I have cut my hair short. I play a college going ultra-modern girl. I can't disclose details about this as the director would make the announcement soon.