With more than two films lined up for release this year, Meera Vasudevan is all set to make a strong comeback. The actor, who recently appeared in the Tamil film Adanga Maru starring Jayam Ravi, will be seen as Lal’s wife in director Priyanandan’s Silencer. Aside from that, Meera is looking forward to the releases of Kutty Mama, Appuvinte Sathyanveshanam, and Krithi.
Silencer is Priyanandan’s follow-up to last year’s Pathirakalam and was in competition at this year’s state awards. The film, which marks her third collaboration with Lal, comes out on March 29. “It’s about the impact of wealth in the life of certain individuals. I play a middle-aged woman who is vain and ntimidating. She is someone who constantly tries to dominate her husband,” says Meera on her character in the film.
“It’s the sort of well-fleshed out character I haven’t attempted before. And working with Lal has been a delightful experience. Priyanandan is a filmmaker who gives you the necessary space to try out different things. He is patient, non-judgmental and allows you to come up with different variations in your performance.”Though Meera’s mother tongue is Tamil, she tells us she has been able to develop a fairly strong grip on Malayalam over the years.
“I’m more comfortable with the language now than I was before. In fact, for Kutty Mama, the director suggested that I dub for my character myself. Though I wasn’t sure about it initially, they encouraged me to go ahead saying it would sound natural given my character’s Bengaluru connection. And it has turned out really well.
For some performances, it’s all about the way you express your character’s emotions and not about the language or dialect they’re using. Being a non-Malayali sometimes has its advantages. For example, in Silencer, it was all about body language; it’s not a loud performance. Everything is expressed in a subtle manner.”
In Appuvinte Sathyanveshanam, directed by Sohanlal, she plays the mother of an 8-year-old. “It’s quite a complex character with negative shades. It made me wonder if I had ever been that way with my own son or I would become that way in the future.”Kutty Mama, directed by VM Vinu, will see Meera paired opposite Sreenivasan for the first time. Dhyan Sreenivasan and Durga Krishna play the couple’s younger selves. Working with Sreenivasan was a dream come true for Meera, who found the actor’s patience admirable.
“He is such a strong person. I recall a time when we were shooting a particular sequence that required rain and the crew had some trouble figuring out how to do it, and he didn’t mind the long wait before a solution presented itself. Not once did he complain or make any sort of fuss even though the whole thing was taking place much later in the night.”
When asked how she divides her time between work and family, she says, “I always try to make sure that I get back on time and attend to my son’s needs. And the film crews I’ve worked with have always been very supportive. If a shoot is happening somewhere other than Kochi, I start early in the morning and get back at night. Whenever I have to go for a shoot, I tell him that I’m going to my ‘office’. Sometimes I take my son to the sets, and this can be a little tricky. Once, I took him to an open set and he kept looking everywhere for my ‘office’ (laughs).”