Despite being a star in the Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu film industries and being a part of a mega-blockbuster in Hindi cinema, there is nothing about Nithya Menen that comes across as manufactured. When she says she’s not eyeing any commercial success, and instead, is looking for roles that leave an impact — however long its length —you know it’s true. And, her filmography is a testament to the same.
This year, in particular, seems to be very interesting for Nithya, whose hands are full of films across industries, languages and genres. The beginning of the year saw her playing the sole actor in the Malayalam psychological thriller Praana, the middle of the year saw her Bollywood debut with Mission Mangal, and the end will see her in the Tamil film Psycho apart from her indie Malayalam film Kolaambi, which will premiere at the 50th International Film Festival of India in Goa.
Besides all of that, she will be essaying the role of the late J Jayalalithaa in The Iron Lady, while also making her digital debut in the second season of Breathe, which will also feature Abhishek Bachchan. Amidst her busy schedule, Nithya took time out to speak with us about her movies, her Bollywood debut, and more. Excerpts from the interview:
You’ve worked across several film industries, and we hear that you like using your own voice in all of them. How many languages do you know? And, has there ever been a problem?
Since childhood, I have been interested in learning new languages. I love speaking to people in their own languages and luckily, I pick up languages very fast. I know six languages right now — Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English. The only language that I had to learn was Telugu, because I’d never spoken it. When I did my first film, I didn’t know Telugu at all.
I learnt it on the job and by the time I did my third film, I was fluent in Telugu. It came to me so easily. Even now, I am most comfortable speaking in Telugu.
Tell us about The Iron Lady. When does it go on the floor?
The Iron Lady is a massive project and not something that we can put together just like that, and start shooting. The director Priyadhaarshini and the whole team want to do the film really well, as opposed to just cashing in on it. And, I stand by the director completely.
She wants to get the casting right, which is very important because there are a lot of important people who are a part of this story. We are taking our time with the pre-production and we will be starting very soon, probably by the end of this year or the beginning of the next year.
Were there any apprehensions about doing the biopic on J Jayalalithaa?
Initially, I was in two minds since it is such a big subject, it has political strings attached to it, and so on. So, I thought, as a courtesy, I would just meet her and politely refuse. But when I met her, the way she presented the entire film to me, her confidence and the amount of work and research that she had done impressed me.
It’s incredible, especially for a first time director. At that spur of the moment, I changed my mind and said, let’s go ahead and dive in, I will do it. The Malayalam film industry is going through a very revolutionary time with more and more women standing up for themselves...
I think that is very important. I see more and more, a sort of dissatisfaction with everything… how can one say to somebody that their nose is not fine, and they should fix it? This is a very negative way for things to go, and they can’t continue to go on like this.
This has to be reversed and people have to understand that if we don’t look different from each other, how can that be okay? We can’t look alike. There are people trolling actors all the time for how they look. They are ruthless, they say all kind of names, and I think it affects people.
Talking about reactions, how do you deal with people body-shaming actors?
I think people are ignorant about it. They automatically assume that if somebody has weight, it is because they are lazy and eat a lot. We actors are not lazy. We stand and work for at least eight hours. And, the weight is very rarely to do with being lazy. Sometimes, it is a health-related thing, and sometimes hormonal. People are already dealing with a lot and when you troll them, you add to the difficulties. If we educate people, to understand that weight is not really coming out of sitting around and enjoying, then they might be slightly more kind.
How do you deal with such concerns personally?
When I am in that stage, I detach myself. I tell myself that these people are ignorant, who are trying to be rude and mean. I detach myself and tell myself that I will be fine. Besides, I see life as being much more than films, which helps. And also, the fact that I am very spiritually inclined.
You once said that you never wanted to be an actress. What did you want to be?
I studied journalism from Manipal University, but in my second year, I decided that I don’t want to be a journalist (laughs). Becoming an actress was in my destiny. The first film that I did was when I was eight years old — it was an English film, shot by French people. And, I didn’t plan it. I don’t come from a film family. I come from a middle-class family that is very education-oriented. No creative things were ever appreciated or encouraged. But, they must be happy now, as you are so successful... My family continues to have an affinity toward education. It is slightly changing... they have recently started watching my films. But, no matter what I do, somewhere there is always ‘You could have been…’ (laughs). In fact, my grandfather was so happy that I am playing a scientist. He said he was waiting to see me as a scientist all his life!
You are also making your digital debut with Breathe 2. How did you find the web-series format?
I loved it. It is totally my space, it gave me the space to be as subtle as I want. It is meant for actors like me. And, the fact that OTT comes with content and pushes and forces everyone else to up their game a little bit, is very welcoming.
When it comes to films, we may have to compromise on certain things to cater to a vast audience, but on OTT platforms, we don’t have to compromise, because we know our audience, it is niche. I am doing Breathe 2 where I play the lead alongside Abhishek Bachchan. Mayank, who directed my movie OK Kanmani, stood his ground, saying that he wants me to play this character.