Sharada sits clad in a white-and-red kanjeevaram, all unwound after a temple visit. The hint of a smile plays in her face and her skin creases when she laughs, which she does often. The actress is returning to the start-camera-action routine after a break and she simply lights up at the mention of Ammathottil, her latest film. It has her playing the female lead along with Madhu and the actress seems to be lost in a bout of nostalgia, “It’s like going on a flashback, rewinding to a few decades,” she says.
Sharada says she was instantly smitten by the theme of ‘Ammathottil. “With a respectable writer-director like Sreekumaran Thampi at the helm I didn’t think twice. Moreover, I get the chance to share the screen with Madhu, one of my favourite co-stars,” she says. The veteran actress adds Ammathottil reminds her of her yesteryear films, stories steeped in the tradition and culture of Kerala. “In Kerala we have this joint family culture and I have put on the greasepaint for a multitude of films woven around that concept. But now there are hardly any movies like that and for me Ammathottil is a return to that good old storylines,” she says.
Mollywood has seen other language imports from time and again, but no one has garnered so much of love and applause the way Sharada did. “I have been in the industry for 48 years now. In Andhra they say I am more of a Malayali and I enjoy hearing such comments. I think language is no more a barrier for actors today as almost every second film features someone from another industry,” she says. The three time national award winner says the performer in her evolved through Malayalam films. “This is an industry that gave me immense support. Though I started my career in Telugu I was reborn as a confident actress here.”
She started facing the camera at a time when filmmakers had no diverse catalogue of tools. “The technical side has gone for a sea change. During our times the scene was totally different, can you imagine cameras that can’t zoom now?,” she asks. Sharada says in her time an acting career meant thorough indulgence, “for us films used to be the beginning and end of our world.”
Sharada says she is not against the new-gen wave, “but films should not be a mindless mix of songs, fights and romance. As an actress who has been part of more than 350 films, I think subject and screenplay are two factors that decide the fate of a film.” It’s her face that fills the screen when many of those evergreen melodies are played in television. Sharada says music is an integral part of cinema, an area new-age films tend to neglect.
“Now we don’t carry the songs to our hearts and homes, we leave them at the theatre. At the same time all those B&W hits are still popular, those 30 and 40 year old songs are still sung at stage programmes and reality shows,” she points out.
Vijaya, the unfortunate mother in ‘Thulabharam’, won Sharada her first national award and the actress says the film is close to her heart for more reasons than one. “I was 22 then and felt Vijaya too intense a role. But later I could totally lose myself to her and there were many a moment I acted as if possessed by her. When the Tamil version was being shot I actually hit the kid who played my son. I was shattered by the trauma though it was just ‘reel life’ as you call it. I couldn’t take it that my children would beg in front of strangers for money. I didn’t fake the anguish, it was real” she says.
She remembers ‘Swayamvaram’ with Adoor Gopalakrishnan as a totally different affair. “We artists have a tendency to dramatise and slightly overact without being artificial. But Adoor wanted unalloyed originality, no finesse in your posture, body language or the way you walk,” she says.
Since the actress also had a stint in politics, she seems quite plugged into the current political scenario. “This is no time to predict whether the changes are good or bad. Life is all about hope, so let’s hope for the best and wait,” she smiles.
She is stepping back into the arc lights after a break, but Sharada has no intention of returning to tight-schedules are never-ending shoots. “I am not on a comeback spree, I plan to do a film once in a while,” she says. Quizz her on her upcoming project and Sharada says: “When many of my hit Malayalm films like ‘Abhijathyam’ and ‘Thulabharam’ were remade into Telugu, they turned out to be blockbusters. I am confident that ‘Ammathottil’ will be a hit and I am looking forward to act in the Telugu remake,” she winds up.