Parvathy Thiruvothu interview: on ‘Thangalaan’, awards and portraying Gangamma

Parvathy says she is on top of the world as Anju, Sudha and Gangamma, her characters in recent Malayalam and Tamil films, have been appreciated

After a lull, Parvathy Thiruvothu is ruling the screen with three back-to-back releases, Ullozhukku, ‘Kazhcha’ in Manorathangal and Thangalaan. Recently, she won Best Performance (Female) at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne for bringing alive Anju in Christo Tomy’s Ullozhukku.

Speaking to The Hindu from Melbourne, Parvathy that says every award that she wins for Ullozhukku, it is going to be for Anju and Leelamma (Urvashi). “For me, Ullozhukku is a story of beautiful friendships. They are on the same boat, these two characters, metaphorically and physically, towards the end of the film. Every award for Anju or Leelamma is for both of them. This one is for all of us — for Christo, for RSVP Movies who were brave enough to produce the film and market it so beautifully. We all know how important it is for producers to show such faith in a film.”

Excerpts from a conversation...

Every day was steeped in such uncertainty. Though I had an amazing co-actor with me, a brilliant director and a great art department, the world of Anju itself was so slippery. Her presence, in those few days when we see Anju, only shows how suffocated and pushed to a corner she already was with the choices she had made. When we meet Anju for the first time, it is not the beginning of the struggle. We are meeting her bang in the middle of it. It is like she is on an island, surrounded by water and the water is closing in on her. And then you realise that Leelamma is also on an island and the water is closing in on both of them.

So, each day, I went to the set knowing that I would fail. I felt I had no idea what I was doing and I would not get it right. I just wanted to understand one day at a time, one moment at a time, one scene at a time and if I get it right, what a relief! Each day was like that. And the understanding that I went with was the fact that she was resolute about finding a way out, no matter how pushed to a corner she was. She was resolute in the fact that her relationship with Rajeev [Arjun Radhakrishnan] was not vilified; she was certain she had given her all to her marriage.

Finally, I figured a way out and then it was about negotiating her way out of that. Every day, I had to speak up for her. In my head, I would say ‘I have got your back girl. I am going to be there to embody you’. In hindsight, I realise that was the route I was taking.

I am not sure if awards have a role in me taking on a character. Accepting any role depends on whether it tugs at the heartstrings, whether it tugs at the actor in me who is so excited about the craft of it. And I do not think about how it is going to come about eventually or whether it will be critically acclaimed or commercially successful. That is not my struggle. Unless and until I am part producer,I don’t think I should be involved in it.