Sumadevi waited 12 years, working as a stunt double in Malayalam films, for a role that won her recognition

one of Malayalam cinema’s few women body doubles, Sumadevi waited 12 years for a role

How actor-body double Sumadevi landed her first award for best actor at the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival for her role in G Prajesh Sen’s The Secret of Women is the stuff of movies. “Getting a break in cinema is a struggle, it is easier if you have godfathers or someone to prop you up,” says the soft-spoken actor, one of Malayalam cinema’s few female body doubles or ‘dupes’, as body doubles are colloquially referred to. It has been a month since she got the award but the feeling is still sinking in, she confesses.

For 12 years she waited on film sets, ‘becoming’ a body double to justify her presence there. The character or the length of the role did not matter, all she wanted was one role that would get her on the silver screen. She has been patient, but apprehensive. “I have seen directors chide actors when they don’t get the take right or they mess up. That intimidated me, and prevented me from asking for a chance,” says Suma. Another deterrent was, what she perceives as, her lack of ‘training’ in acting.  

Movies were her mother’s dream for her. Sumadevi’s mother would joke about her quicksilver temper. “She would say ‘seeing how your mood changes every second, you would make a great actor’. And that stayed with me.” Her late mother would have been thrilled at the award, Sumadevi adds. 

Being a body double was never her plan, it was just a means to her dream. “Sasi Master [stunt director Mafia Sasi] is a family friend. I asked him if he could help me. He told me there is not much he could do either. He joins a project mid-way, so he is not in a position to ask for a role for me. He said ‘you tag along [to the sets], but what would you do there?’. That is how I became a body double!” Usually body doubles or stunt doubles for female actors were brought from Chennai. Although she has no other formal training in the martial arts, she has learnt Kalaripayattu.   

Her first film was Marykkundoru Kunjaadu (2010); she was a double for Bhavana and another actor. Twelve years seems like a long time to chase a dream. 

Did she ever want to quit? “I have never felt that. I just want to be part of films. I have wanted to act since I was a kid. I want to be part of films.” Among the actors she has been body double for are Mamata Mohandas, Archana Kavi, Mythili, Kamalini Mukherjee, Keerthy Suresh and Honey Rose. She has also worked with Peter Hein.  

During the filming of Mamata’s film To Noora, With Love, she met with an accident while filming a boat scene. “Mamata ma’am was very concerned, and even offered to take me to the hospital. She felt bad that I got hurt for her sake.” Injuries are a part of the deal; she does not take them too seriously. “An accident can happen anywhere… you could be walking and you trip and fall. Getting injured on the set during filming happens often, usually these are minor and nothing some rest can’t cure,” says Sumadevi who is in her thirties.