Lakshmi Gopalaswamy born in a Kannada family in Bangalore is one of Mollywood’s favourite actor. It has been five years since she did Aptha Rakshaka in Kannada and now the actress and classical dancer is all set to get back to Kannada films. Signalling her unquenchable intellectual inquisitiveness, she is looking forward to her next film Vidaya (Farewell) directed by National award winning director P Seshadri and produced by Basanth Kumar Patil, which will release this week.
Vidaya is releasing at an ideal time, since the film revolves around euthanasia and the Aruna Shanbaug case is still fresh in people’s memory. And while the woman-centric aspect suggests that it will be a challenging film, Lakshmi clearly exhibits the trait of sensibility by choosing to work with a director like P Seshadri and evokes the feeling that she is interested in big things but happy with the small ways. She says, “I knew he was a big name and a sensible director. That was of course one of the main reasons to work with him. But more importantly, it is a woman-centric film and a great role to essay. It is not often that an actress is offered the ‘luxury’ of such a role.”
The actress, who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and is careful while picking subjects, does not shy away from revealing that the film belongs to a rare league. “The last time I felt good about working with such profound subjects was with films like Thaniye, Paradesi, Shikkar, and the recent Swapaanam directed by Shaji N Karun,” she says. Lakshmi has also done a Hindi film that has been rechristened Carbon, which is yet to be released. “The film revolves around a lady and is based on a true story,” she says.
According to the actress, Vidaya is also special because she had to dig deep inside the character to get the proper disposition. “The character has several layers of emotions and I admit that the struggle to get every nuance right was enthralling,” she says. It took the actress couple of days to get a hang of the character and she reveals that talent can be rated only by doing such demanding characters. “A film that touches on a subject like euthanasia does make people think, but I only wish that we get more viewers to watch this kind of cinema,” says Lakshmi.
The actress is also looking forward to an yet-to-be-titled Tamil film. “It is a take on reality shows. The film is directed by Arun Prabhu under Dream Warrior Pictures. I now need to see what is good that is waiting for me in Malayalam,” she signs off.
Awed by Adda Bengre
The shooting for this film was primarily carried out in Adda Bengre, which is 14 kms from Udupi. “I felt Seshadri had located an unexplored spot. It is a fisherman’s village with colourful houses. If tourism wakes up, I think we can beat the whole world. And this place in proof enough,” says Lakshmi.