Aishwarya Lekshmi: ‘Ammu’ was an emotionally draining experience

Aishwarya Lekshmi, Naveen Chandra, Karthik Subbaraj and Charukesh Sekar hold forth on their Telugu film ‘Ammu’, which traces the journey of a domestic abuse victim

Aishwarya Lekshmi, who portrayed Poonguzhali in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan, will be stepping into new territory with Ammu, Amazon Prime Video’s first Telugu original feature film. Aishwarya plays a woman facing domestic abuse from her husband (Naveen Chandra), a cop. When a cop is the perpetrator, where does Ammu go? The film, scheduled to stream on October 19, is pitched as the journey of a woman who finds an unlikely ally (Bobby Simha) and fights back. Filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj dons the hat of the creative producer and the film is directed by his associate Charukesh Sekar. 

Speaking to MetroPlus in Hyderabad, Charukesh says he came across news reports that revealed a surge in domestic abuse cases during the lockdown. “We were all homebound to protect ourselves from the virus; I never imagined the possibility of such collateral damage — of domestic abuse.” It got him thinking and the story of Ammu was a natural progression.

Ammu isn’t set during the lockdown, Karthik is quick to add, “I liked Charu’s first draft and after further iterations, we finalised the script. Our production house, Stone Bench Films, was keen to begin work. Around the same time, Amazon Prime Video showed interest and they felt it could be a Telugu film.” 

Karthik and Charukesh were mindful that the film should not appear as a project conceived on their home turf, Tamil Nadu, and passed off as a namesake Telugu film. “The issue of domestic abuse is universal. We made sure that the story is narrated in a manner that is authentic to the Telugu milieu. For instance, the work atmosphere of a Telugu cop would be different from that of a Tamil cop.”

Aishwarya, who had worked in Karthik’s Tamil film Jagame Thandhiram, says her friends and close associates advised her against taking up a heavy subject for her first Telugu film ( Godse, in which she plays a pivotal role, hadn’t come up then). “Once it took the shape of a digital project, we did not have to worry about the box office and could focus on the creative aspects.”

Once she began filming, Aishwarya realised that enacting a domestic abuse victim can be emotionally draining. “Imagine if just acting as a victim could be so stressful,” she says.

For Naveen, it was an eight-year wish to work with Karthik. He recalls watching Jigarthanda and actor Naren, who had worked with him in Sarabham, stating that Naveen should work with filmmakers like Karthik. When the opportunity finally arrived, he was excited. “I was determined to do the film, though it involved juggling my dates.”