KOLLAM: Off-Screen, actor Gauri Meenakshi has no resemblance to the gloomy and pale ‘Anna’, she embodied in Orithal, a 20-minute telefilm produced by Doordarshan.
She is bubbly and her enthusiasm is quite infectious as she shares with The New Indian Express her joy of bagging the best child actor award in the Kerala State Television Awards announced last week.
Her father P S Ashwin, who wrote and directed Orithal, says Gauri was not his first choice when he decided to shoot the telefilm.
“However, even after scouring for several faces, we couldn’t find one suitable to play the character Anna. This is when we decided to cast her. Since she performed well in the audition, we decided to cast her,” said Ashwin, who had directed several short films and music videos earlier. The music was also composed by Ashwin.
Though only in Class IV, Gauri clearly knows what she wants to be when she grows up. “Though I am fond of acting which I consider very cool, I want to become a chef when I grow up,” says the student of Kollam City Central School. She, especially loves baking cakes and adds that she has mastered other dishes as well. Her mother Lakshmi, niece of actor Jayan and a clinical psychologist, supports her decision. She adds she feels at ease when she acts, especially when she works in her father’s telefilms.
In Orithal, Anna is depicted as a young girl who is passionate about gardening. She nurtures a garden in the house where her mother works as a housemaid. However, when her mother is fired from her place of work, Anna has to leave her garden behind. Gauri has also acted in several other short films directed by Ashwin. She will soon be seen in a feature film.