We have grown up with many Jayas around us, says Darshana Rajendran on ‘Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey’

Darshana Rajendran talks about playing the titular character in ‘Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey’ and her love for theatre

“I had to fight against how Darshana would think when it came to playing Jaya. I wondered why Jaya was behaving in a certain way or not saying something when decisions were made for her,” says Darshana Rajendran about playing the titular character in the Malayalam film Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, also starring actor-director Basil Joseph .

Describing Jaya as an ordinary girl who does not have much say even in matters concerning her, Darshana says that the character is someone we all know in our family or neighbourhood. “There could be a Jaya in us. We have grown up with so many Jayas around us,” she says. The film is about her journey from childhood. When she wants to study something, nobody cares to ask her and she is sent for something else. Later, she is forced into an arranged marriage. “Then, it is about her marriage and how it goes,” says Darshana.

Jaya is certainly most unlike Darshana, the actor agrees with a laugh. Articulate and with a mind of her own, Darshana says she is blessed to have been born in a family where she had choices aplenty, though she has seen people in Jaya’s shoes. “I felt the decisions Jaya was taking were completely alien to me. And, she does not speak much. That is not me at all. It was a challenge to think like her and be her. But that is my job. I had to remember the circumstances in which Jaya grew up and her state of mind to enact her,” she explains.

Jaya gets married to Rajesh, enacted by Basil. Darshana and Basil share a rapport as they have worked together before. “The unconventional casting has helped the film. Basil is that guy brimming with things to do. Spontaneity is his strength. The trending ‘shoulder wriggle dance’ video, conceptualised by Basil was done in less than five minutes. ”

Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, directed by Vipin Das, is set in Kollam, a place that has not been explored much in films despite its picturesque scenery. Since Vipin is from Thiruvananthapuram and co-writer Nashid Mohamed Famy is from the Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram border, the dialect is distinctive. Darshana says Kollam is a place that was not familiar to her and so she enjoyed working in the new locales.

Darshana has had three well-received releases in 2021-2022 with C U Soon, Rani, her film in the anthology Aanum Pennum, and Hridayam, a blockbuster entertainer. She admits that there was a time — before 2020 — when it was difficult to see her enjoy a phase like this. Although the characters she did prior to C U Soon did not have much screen space, she made the most of it.

Anu Sebastian in C U Soon, Rani in Aanum Pennum and Darshana in Hridayam put her in the limelight. “Nevertheless, even if those movies, which came to me before C U Soon, were offered to me today, I would do it happily. I am not looking to play the lead role alone,” she asserts.