Sona Nair couldn’t stop giggling thinking about her ultimate ambition once upon a time till fate landed her before the camera. “I wanted to be a bank manager. I had this wrong notion that I could see lots of money!”
This trained classical dancer and a Commerce graduate with a PGDCA certificate never thought that she would ever have an acting career at all. Now with a 21-year-old career behind her, she is all happy. And she is planning to focus on films for the time being and is absolutely excited about the lead role she would be essaying opposite Innocent in ‘Dr Innocent Aanu’. “I am very hopeful about the movie by Ajmal. I play Innocent’s wife, who is of a very dominating nature.”
Sona is among the lucky few artistes who’ve had good roles both in cinema and on mini screen. The state film and television awards in her kitty bear testimony to her talent. Films like ‘Arayannangalude Veedu’, ‘Neythukaran’, ‘Arimpara’, ‘Naran’, ‘Naalu Pennungal’, ‘Passenger’, ‘Manassinakkare’ and ‘Kerala Cafe’ gave her much to cheer about. So too the umpteen telefilms and serials, the recent ones being ‘Maanasaputhri’ and ‘Autograph’ (both aired on Asianet).
“I am really lucky that I have never been kept out of films for the reason that I came from television. I have got my share of good roles,” she says with immense satisfaction. This classical dancer-turned- actress would soon be seen in ‘Sarkar Colony’ directed by Jayakrishnan, alongside Mukesh, Devayani, Jagadish and Ashokan. She is also part of Thaha’s ‘Pachuvum Kovalanum’ (with Mukesh and Jyothirmayi).
Sona was studying at Government Women’s College when she had her acting debut, thanks to her dancing prowess, through the evergreen serial ‘Oru Kudayum Kunju Pengalum’, telecast by the good-old Doordarshan. “Having given many dance performances, I didn’t have any tension facing the camera. May be, because I didn’t know much about acting then.”
Post her marriage with Udayan Ambadi in 1996 (“a love-cum-arranged marriage”), Sona continued to act. “He has been my pillar of support,” she says about her husband, an accomplished cameraman. Her first film was ‘Thoovalkottaram’ by Sathyan Anthikkad. “I don’t know how the role came to me. Unlike today, the production controllers of that period used to go around searching for new faces. May be, I was part of that hunt. Today, you have talents everywhere.”
When there started the mega serial era, Sona got her share in the form of ‘Charulatha’ (Surya TV). Her character Kunjulakshmy was loved by the audience and it also gave her the State Film Award-winning role in Priyanandan’s ‘Neythukaran’. A three- time State Television Award winner (‘Rachiyamma’, ‘Jalam’ and ‘Samasya’), she has also won honours like Critics Award, Asianet Television Award, Adoor Bhasi Award, Sathyan Award etc. “It was really exciting when I knew that I was nominated for the Filmfare (South) award for the best supporting role for my work in ‘Passenger’,” she shares with much delight.
As of now, Sona has done 52 movies, which include two works in Tamil, one in Hindi (‘Maalamal Weekly’) and an upcoming Telugu movie ‘Salamath’ directed by Avinash, in which she plays the role of “a young, bold and workaholic mother.” At a point Sona decided to take a break and concentrate on films. “I missed many films because the dates clashed with my serial schedules. So, I went on a three-year break from television and concentrated on movies.”
And she came back with a bang to the households as Sandhya Menon of ‘Manasaputhri’. Sethulakshmy of ‘Autograph’ too became a people’s favourite. She was also seen in a double role in now off-air serial ‘Rudraveena’ (Surya TV). “It was Radhika ma’am (Radhika Sarathkumar) who suggested my name for the role.”
Sona minces no words while talking about the present- day serials. “It is quite discouraging to see the megaserial makers resorting to all sorts of gimmicks to keep the TAM ratings up. It is for all those audience who wouldn’t mind watching anything. The storyline is stretched to the limit, new tracks and characters are introduced. Whether they like it or not, I have told my directors many times about this. But they are left with no option other than listening to the channel heads and increase the number of episodes. It is true that we artists and the technicians are benefited when the episodes increase. But, the other side is that we get little job satisfaction.”
She continues, “As of now, I have not committed any serials and would like to do more films. I have always loved doing real-life characters. It comes rarely in an artists’ life, something like the role I did in the telefilm ‘Rachiyamma’ (by Harikumar).” She doesn’t idolise any actor. “But I just wish Bharathan sir and Padmarajan sir were alive today. I have never approached any director asking to cast me in their films/serials. But, if they were there, I would have definitely approached them.”
And she does nurture some dreams. “I would definitely foray into direction. I would like to do some short films first. In fact, I have some scripts with me!,” she says with a chuckle, and adds, “I have worked with almost all the leading stars of Malayalam industry and would continue to act till the day I find myself unfit. Later on, I would shift to direction”.
Before that, she wouldn’t mind winning a National Award. “Who wouldn’t cherish a National Award? The significant thing is that at the end of the day, I would like to be known as a good actress of the Malayalam film industry.”
So, what does she think is her precious asset? “My eyes, probably. People say, I can act with my eyes...,” she says with that hearty sunshine smile of hers.