CHENNAI: Fathima Babu is a face that most Chennaiites would recognise. When she was not on our television screens, she was on stage enthralling the audience. Ahead of leaving for Paris for the second and final leg of the Indo-French production ‘Geetanjali’, Fathima spares some time to dwell on her career which like a pendulum has swung between two ends with no rest in between. Happy to be in her world and with the desired space, Fathima says the movie she is doing has a French connection but cannot reveal anything beyond the name.
Even as you wonder if it is a lucrative deal, Fathima smells it and says with a smile, “A deal is a deal and a word is a word. For me, commitment is everything and I expect that from both ends. It has been an endearing experience in the first leg of the shoot at my hometown, Puducherry.”
Donning different roles
From being a news reader in Doordarshan to acting in a world of stage plays, television serials and coming under the wings of ace director K Balachander, Fathima is happy with this roller-coaster ride. “Honestly, I had the tag of being a bridesmaid and never had been a bride. You cannot dismiss it as bits-and-pieces, for the roles I had carried the weight and the confidence in the director, that I could be depended on,” she says.
From the plethora of plays, two that are close to her heart had been under famed writer-director TV Radhakrishnan. “Iraivan Kodutha Varam dwelt on the parents’ dependence on their children, which the writer brought out so imaginatively. In the lead character, I breathed fire into the role and came in for praise for the natural portrayal. I have two grown up sons, and I’m aware of the demands and vagaries of the youth. You give an inch, they take a yard. You could argue that they are your children but there has to be a reasoning in everything. The play harped on the theme that if everything is taken for granted, the charm of life goes for a toss,” she shares.
The other play is ‘Valaikul Meen’, where Fathima played a character true to the present world. “Caught in the Internet quagmire, the character is a victim of the greed. In every human being, there is an avarice, not just restricted to the uneducated ones. We all succumb in a second of madness and impetuosity. The director had vividly chronicled the segments, giving enough life to the character. There was a message to be conveyed and what better medium than a stage play, in front of an appreciative audience,” she says.
Fathima has been blessed with a good memory right from an young age, remembering facts. This has stood her in good stead over the years. “When I am rehearsing a dialogue, I try my best to coat it with the desired conviction. Sharing my inputs with directors has gone a long way in my convincing portrayals. The directors, including KB sir, are happy when the artiste connects with the character and goes to any length for the perfection. Admittedly, it is a director’s medium but the gain is total with the involvement of the artistes,” she says.
A moment of reckoning for Fathima was in helming the script of ‘Thaarama Tallya-aa’ as a tribute to K Balachander, weeks after his demise. “I had formed a drama group FABS, which lined up on stage with a candle after offering flowers to a huge portrait of the director,” she adds.
Chitralaya Sriram — son of the celebrated Chitralaya Gopu and the late Kamala Sadagopan, and a well-known Tamil novelist — had penned the story and dialogue. “It was a serious play but had its brand of humour, so evident in all movies of KB sir. Having worked with him, I had observed even the minute details in the way he had slipped in the humour segment. It is easier to send across the messages with a lighter coating. There were many lessons from the school of KB sir, which had taught me the importance of staying true to oneself and rooted to the ground. The most important of them all, rooted in my mind is that ‘Not everyday could be yours. But it pays to make the most of it, when you find the day to your heart’s content. Just pour out your feelings honestly, and the result will show’. This has kept me going, amid my highs and lows,” she shares.
Tales by the media
A thriving career will always have ups and downs. Did she have any disturbing moment? “Well, there were many, which the media dug deep to get my end of the knot. While doing a television serial simultaneously with my news reading, I was out of action in the news segment as the rule prohibited from being part of two projects at the same time. The media was quick to make two plus two is four and came up with the ‘kidnapping’ tale. It was not just my reputation that took a beating, as it involved a political figure too. That just goes to show the reckless ways of the media. For them, it is fine for a juicy story, but spare a thought for a woman, already fighting a lonely battle in a male bastion. Thankfully, those bitter days are past and true to say, made me a much stronger person,” she shares.
Of the many roles in theatre, the pick of the lot for Fathima is the Nandini character in ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ that she did in 2013. “Post that, there had been many number of Ponniyin Selvan from different troupes. There was that freshness to that character, packed with intelligent dialogues. When the character you play is part of history, there is a different feel to the body language. The impeccable sets, sound recordist creating the rich effect backed by the electrifying ambience is a feel all artistes had to experience,” she says.
Directing short plays ‘Koodi Vazhandal’, ‘Aan Dharmam’, ‘Naan Avanillai’ and ‘Thappatam’ showcased Fathima’s versatility. That only got substantiated when she doffed the double hat of acting-directing in ‘Tharama Thally-aa’ which brought to light her intricate style of acting. “Audience love to call it subtle, but deep inside me, the feelings poured out straight from my heart. Certain characters make a woman fume and only the artiste concerned will know the magnitude. You live with such characters, long after the dust is settled. In movies, I had been awestruck with the way the late actress Sujatha gave life to many of KB sir movies. You live only once and such movies are a god-send,” she shares.
Moving ahead
Fathima has not kept track of her record in the world of television. “I had lost count of the time, I had shunted between Chennai and Hyderabad for the Tamil and Telugu serials. Even in my schooling days, I was fond of learning languages and had the ability to grasp those in quick time. Telugu audience love their characters to project a larger-than-life image. Long dialogues are the life and soul of sentiment-enmeshed characters. I quickly settled into a world which was not far from mine. It boiled down to accepting characters which are anything but you. Is it not the beauty of a profession,where you get to play a harlot, affectionately stoke the hair of a child, rub shoulders with a not-so-understanding husband and stand tall to quell the challenges of a mother-in-law,” she explains. Fathima was happy to let go of her flow.
From the time, K Balachander opened the doors for Fathima in ‘Kalki’ where she played ‘Malgova-Mami’ flooring the youth, the charmer has stood the time and had been part of many successful movies. “You cannot expect a great footage in a Shankar-film but if you could leave a mark even in limited space time, it means a job well done. When you are past the prime of youth, it is great to be in part of projects befitting one’s age, stature and experience. These are days when the field is rich with new entrants. For me, it is not a question of competing with them. I am known for my individuality, precisely the expectation from my set of audience. I too have a fan base, which had risen to alarming levels in recent times,” she notes.
Reminded of her bits-and-pieces tag not long ago, Fathima laughs it away. Her cricketing knowledge is not sound enough to know of a certain Ravindra Jadeja, who too had that tag from a former Indian star. That he proved that distractor wrong with that last ball boundary in the IPL final is too recent to be forgotten.