Forget Malar and Kanchanamala here comes Eli, says one of the popular posts doing rounds in social networking sites. While Anuraga Karikkin Vellam could easily create fireworks at the BO, it also had a delightful surprise in store - Rajisha Vijayan who played the lead lady Elizabeth. Basking in the success of her debut outing, the actress says she didn’t expect such a terrific welcome. “I am a little shocked, I was not prepared for this,” she says.
As Asif’s annoyingly persistent girlfriend Rajisha could come out with a nearly-perfect act, but she says unlike her screen avatar she is not eternally hooked up to the phone. “There were moments I couldn’t connect to Eli and I used to complain that she’s too irritating. But then all girls are like that to an extent. We invest a lot emotionally and when you don’t get it back we are hurt. Eli wants to be good to everyone and she doesn’t lose hope even when everything goes awry,” she explains. Since the release of Anuraga Karikkin Vellam her phone has been ringing off the hook, most times guys telling her that their girlfriends are clones of Eli. “I have got umpteen messages from people saying that they know someone exactly like Eli. And I think it’s for the first time a film shows what happens to a girl post break-up. Normally they show the guy’s side only,” she says.
The anchor-turned actress, who studied journalism in Delhi, says she had no jitters to be a newbie among seasoned actors. “When you are starting off the environment and the people you are teaming up are very important. Here the entire cast and crew members have been really supportive. If I could pull off Eli well the whole credit goes to them.” She adds Asif Ali, with whom she had maximum scenes, turned out to be an amazing co-star. “His Abhilash is not very perfect or heroic and I wanted to see how he would do the negative part. But the way he portrayed this side was brilliant. He never goes for overkill. Then I had very few combination scenes with Asha chechi and Biju chettan. But I used to watch them perform and it was a great learning experience.”
Rajisha says she was floored by the one-line story of Anuraga Karikkin Vellam and couldn’t contain her excitement when Eli was offered to her. “I remember Asha chechi saying that she agreed to do the film even without reading the script. She said it was he first time she said yes to a film right away. Anuraga Karikkin Vellam has such a beautiful plot,” she muses.
Rajisha says she wants to take it slowly. “I am not in a hurry to do maximum films. Rather than being part of a hundred mediocre films I want to do 10 good films. As of now I am going through a couple of scripts and if I come across something sound-and-solid you will soon see me on screen,” she signs off.