There is something about the Malayalam film industry, which drives talented young actors to the Tamil field. Take Asin, Nayantara or Amala Paul for instance…it just took a Tamil film for them to arrive. In Kerala.
Ananya is the latest on the bandwagon. Although she debuted in Malayalam as a youngster in ‘Pai Brothers', produced by her father Gopalakrishnan Nair, later in films such as S.N. Swami's ‘Positive', it took a hit Tamil film ‘Nadodigal' for her to be noticed.
While we wait for Ananya to show up for the interview, her father fills in on how the young archer took a deviation to acting. As a child she was initiated into archery by an uncle and even represented the State in the sport. Somewhere along the way movies happened.
Unlike most other actors it was not the Kalathilakam route, the next best thing - a reality show. She was representing her college, St. Xavier's, Aluva for a campus based reality show. “She had five offers, but we turned down every one of them.”
After repeated refusals, Ananya's father goes on, “Ayilya told me ‘let me give films a shot.” Ayilya? That's Ananya's given name. In Malayalam films, before ‘Nadodigal', credits rolled with Ayilya. “In Tamil the name is something of a tongue twister so…” What is a change in name without numerology?
Girl-next-door
At this point after a delay of an hour-and-a-half in comes the charming Ananya with profuse apologies. Dressed in a bright fuchsia outfit she looks every flashy inch an actor. She effortlessly poses for the shoot and then goes in for a change. And voila! She is the average, pretty girl-next-door.
That, according to her, “might be the problem when it comes to getting mature roles here.” She then launches into the probable reason - that she ‘is' her age, appearance wise. “There are some girls who are younger, but ‘look' older. I wish there was some medicine for maturity.”
At the moment she is excited about the release of her Tamil film produced by A. R. Murugadoss and 20{+t}{+h} Century Fox, ‘Engeyum Epodhum', for which “I have dubbed myself in Tamil and that is because of the director, Saravanan sir's confidence in me.” She frantically looks for the sound clipping on her Blackberry and plays it out loud.
“Maybe that is why,” she says suddenly. Why what? “In Tamil cinema, people are willing to take chances. And not play safe.” It took her almost 24 hours to get the Tamil right. “I am willing to work hard if the director's is willing to take a chance on me.” She told as much to a prominent Malayalam director who was sceptical to make her dub in Malayalam.
Not that she doesn't have work in Malayalam films, some of the projects she is involved in are ‘The Reporter', ‘Sandwich', ‘Masters' etc. Her latest release is ‘Dr. Love' where the lead actors are Kunchacko Boban and Bhavana. She was Mohanlal's daughter in ‘Shikar'.
But she is willing to bide time, “the size of the role doesn't matter, the character should have depth.” She was offered the role of Vijay's sister in the yet to be released ‘Velayudham' but she refused. “It was a lovely chance but I didn't want to get slotted.”
Typecast?
Ananya doesn't want to be typecast but the majority of her roles have been rather traditional, ‘naadan'. Isn't that a kind of slotting? “No. For television interviews and photo shoots I don't wear sleeveless. If I do, in the next film I'll be asked to wear an off-shoulder outfit. I don't want to do that.”
She essayed Navya's role in ‘Seedan', the Tamil remake of ‘Nandanam'. Telugu? She has acted in one film. Kannada? She is shooting for ‘Gokulkrishna'. She is the lead heroine in the film. Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films are keeping her busy.
So what about archery? “I would love to get back but time…” What would she like to be known as?A sportsperson or actor?
“How about a sporty actor?” Touché
