Kerala State Film Awards: Beena R. Chandran’s journey from the school classroom to Best Actor award

Beena is a joint winner of the State Film Award this year with veteran Urvashi (Ullozhukku), who won the acting honours for a record equalling sixth time.

Acting is not something which is limited to the stage of screen for Beena R. Chandran. The State Film Award winner for Best Actor (Female) in 2023 for her performance in Fazil Razak’s Thadavu, the school teacher says she uses her acting skills as a tool to impart lessons to her students at CEUP School, Parudur in Palakkad district.

Winning the Award also does not make her forget her roots in theatre. On Friday evening, soon after winning the award, she was up on the stage performing a 40 minute solo play titled Otta Njaval Maram, for the Kalapadasala, Arangottukara, a theatre group of which she has been a part for many years.

“I have been part of amateur theatre groups since my school days. My skills have been honed through acting in these dramas over the years. In the school where I teach, we have a children’s theatre. I teach English and Malayalam through skits and other performances because these are found to be more effective in conveying ideas to the children. For the past 28 years, I have been in the teaching profession, and I have just two more years to retire,” says Ms. Chandran in an interview to The Hindu.

Earlier, she had played relatively minor roles in films by P.P. Sudevan and M.G. Sasi. Fazil Razak, who won the Best Debutant Director Award for Thadavu, signed her up for a couple of short films, which won awards. But playing the central character in Thadavu was a different ball game. As Geetha, she had to convincingly portray the angst as well as inherent resilience of a woman scarred by two unsuccessful marriages and a series of unfortunate events, including being blamed for a child’s death for no fault of her own. But, she is not the kind of character whom we can automatically sympathise with either, for she has her own failings and has no likeable traits too.

“I was a bit scared after reading the script, because Fazil’s debut film depended much on how I performed this character too. I did a lot of homework as I wanted to bring a level of uniqueness to the performance. For instance, I tried a lot to ensure that the way I cried did not look like a copy of any other actor’s,” she says.

Beena is a joint winner of the State Film Award this year with veteran Urvashi (Ullozhukku), who won the acting honours for a record equalling sixth time.