Sporting a geek look with black-rimmed glasses and cropped hair, Aparna Gopinath appears an unlikely candidate for films. She is not yet another entrant dazed by the glitz of silver screen. The actor, who will be seen opposite Dulquar Salman in the upcoming flick ‘ABCD’, has a strong theatrical background. And what more, she is a trained salsa dancer and rumba instructor.
True to the impression she gives Aparna discloses, “I have never dreamt to be part of films, though I love acting the most.” Having been exposed to another entirely different medium of acting, she says, “This is a totally new world which is different from what I have done so far. I am learning a lot of new things. I don’t want to confine myself to any particular type of role and is ready for all sorts of experimentation.”
The actor, though quite tight-lipped about ‘ABCD’, says she plays an important character in the movie that is about an American Born Confused Desi. The shooting is progressing in Kochi. Says Aparna, “My parents have been ardent fans of Mohanlal and Mammootty. It is a wonderful experience to work with the celebrated actor’s son.”
Visibly besotted with the new trends of Mollymood, Aparna says, “Our industry no more rely on the time-tested formulas. I am glad to be part of our cinema in this juncture when we are open to novelty in all areas of filmmaking.”
Aparna, hailing from Chennai, has acted in several professional plays. “When I was a school kid, a director spotted me, and that was the beginning of my acting career,” she says. She has associated herself with ‘Koothu-P-Pattarai’, an avant-garde theatre movement of Chennai, and had also acted in renowned plays like ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’, ‘Woyzeck’, ‘Moonshine’, ‘Sky Toffee’, ‘Sangadi Arinjo’ based on seven short stories of Vaikkom Muhhammad Basheer and several Shakespearean plays.
Besides her acting stint, Aparna has also been part of dance workshops in Chennai and Kochi. She has been in the forefront of propagating social dancing, a unique dance variety that includes hip-hop, broadway, western contemporary, disco and Jewish folk dance.