Sunu Lakshmi is a happy girl. She has been receiving quite a lot of kudos for her portrayal of village belle Sumathi in Aramm and the actress can't stop gushing about the Nayanthara-starrer. “The film is a social drama and Sumathi is leagues apart from what I have done so far in my acting career. She is a homemaker and the film is built on an incident involving one of her family members,” she says.
Sunu Lakshmi says she was totally bowled by the script of Aramm that she had no issues playing the rural woman who is also the mother of two kids. “When I was offered the character of Sumathi I was a little hesitant. I was not sure whether I should start accepting such mature roles in the early stages of my career. Then I heard the script of the film and instantly fell in love with Sumathi. She is a woman who lives for her family and the film conveys a good message.
Moreover, mine is more of a performance-oriented role,” she says. The actress had to go for a total makeover for the film that she was almost unrecognisable. “Everything from the costume and makeup was different. Then walking around in the sun my skin got naturally tanned making me look like a dark-skinned village girl,” she says.
When Aramm was released all the posters had just one face – Nayanthara who plays district collector Madhivadani. “Yes, I was not part of the promos because they wanted to keep the subject of the film under wraps. They didn't want the family plot to be leaked so during the first round no other stills were used. But now they have released the family pics which shows Sumathi with her husband and kids,” she says.
She calls Nayanthara a very friendly co-star and adds that she even asked Sunu why she is doing mother roles at a young age. “At first she didn't know I was not a Malayali and working with her was a real pleasant experience.” After Aramm she will be seen in a couple of other Tamil projects and we ask her why she is missing from the Malayalam industry. “I made my debut in Tamil and after that I got a number of good films from there. Though currently my focus is on Tamil, I am looking forward to good roles in Malayalam as well,” she winds up.