Ahead of the streaming premiere of her latest film, BhamaKalapam 2, in which Priyamani plays a nosy housewife who just cannot stay away from trouble, the actor shares that working in a film like this is certainly not as “emotionally and physically demanding” as a Paruthiveeran (2007), her breakout film, but comes with its own set of challenges. “Anupama is an innocent person and I don’t look innocent from any angle. So playing an innocent character itself was quite a task,” she quips.
“Every movie is a learning for you,” she says, sharing that she is still learning new things each day. In this chat, she opens up about how her choices have evolved over the years, why she is proud of being trained by old-school filmmakers, and an important lesson she learned from Mohanlal.
Excerpts from the interview:
Your debut, Evare Athagadu came out in 2003 and this is your 21st year as an actor. Has the journey been as smooth as one would hope for or has it been a rollercoaster ride?
It’s definitely had its share of ups and downs. It’s 50-50. I wouldn’t say it was a bed of roses. I have encountered a lot of thorns in my way but I’m happy now. I can say that the bouquet feels complete now. (smiles)
In Neru, you play a lawyer who knows that the accused person she is defending is guilty of committing a heinous crime. However, she has to do her job and fight in the court that he is innocent. In a similar vein, have there been instances in your career where you chose roles or films even though they didn’t align with your belief system?
I have made some choices like that but I won’t make them anymore. It wasn’t a compulsion but I don’t know what came into me, I just said, ‘It’s just a movie, it is okay’. I might have thought, even if I don’t like it, the money is good. I’ll be very honest, I have done things like that early in my career. But I don’t do it anymore. I think my thought process began changing 10-12 years back. If money was the only criterion, I would have easily done 90-100 films by now. But I believe in quality because when you look back at your life after you stop acting and move on, it’s important that you have a legacy left behind you. I might be here today and I might not be here one day. I don’t want people to look down on me for doing poor films. But today, people tell me that my choices of films were great and that’s what I want when I decide to quit.