Senna Hegde’s National award-winning film Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam (2021) introduced several new talents, and one among them who impressed the most is its lead actor Anagha Narayanan. The Kanhangad native won laurels for her performance as a young woman who tries to break free from the clutches of her controlling father. Three years later, Anagha is playing yet another character who is desperate to escape—not from her father this time, but from the vast stretches of Arabian sand dunes. Her latest outing Raastha, which hits screens today, is a survival thriller set against the backdrop of a desert. A fan of survival dramas, Anagha says, it was almost an instant decision to act in the film. “It’s not everyday you get such films. I also loved director Aneesh Anwar’s work in Zachariayude Garbhinikal, so I had complete trust in him.”
Sharing more about her character in Raastha, Anagha adds, “I play the protagonist Shahana, a young woman who arrives in Oman to meet her mother. Things take an unexpected turn and she soon finds herself in trouble. The film is about how a bunch of people, who are in no way related to her, decide to help her and become part of the journey. It’s an interesting role with a lot of scope for performance.” Along with Anagha, the film also stars Sarjano Khalid, director Aneesh Anwar, Irshad and a few Omani actors. Anagha fondly recalls the ‘friendly atmosphere’ on sets and the ‘great rapport’ shared with her co-stars.
“Usually it takes me 2-3 days to warm up and ease into the character, but in Raastha, it happened very smoothly. Perhaps because of the freedom we had while performing. With Aneesh ettan also acting, he would constantly ask for suggestions to make a scene better.”
Aneesh Anwar, who also made films like Kumbasaram (2015) and Basheerinte Premalekhanam (2016), has directed Raastha based on a script by Shahul and Fayiz Madakkara, two Oman-based Malayalis. The film is based on real incidents of people getting trapped in Rub’ al Khali deserts, known as one of the world’s most dangerous deserts. According to Anagha, what makes the region so dangerous is the extreme weather conditions and the struggle to navigate through frequent sandstorms.
“Once you lose track there, it’s also impossible to find you,” sighs the actor, while remembering the extreme climate changes and other challenges that they had to endure during the shoot. “We shot mostly in a region called Bidiyyah, which I think is the starting point of Rub’ al Khali. The climatic conditions were severely harsh there. In the day, it used to be scorching hot and by the night, it would get freezing cold. Such extreme variations took a toll on lot of us. We were also told about the presence of deadly snakes, but thankfully we didn’t come across any,” laughs the 24-year-old.
Despite all the hardships, Anagha says she is still up for such challenging experiences. “As an actor, I’m always willing to push myself to any extent that the character demands. I would love to do characters that require me to research and put in extra efforts,” wishes the actor, who credits her love for acting to her Kanhangad days where she was active in theatre groups and cultural festivals, right from childhood. “Back then, acting was just my passion. Now it’s also my profession. So, I’m very serious about it.”
Apart from Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam and Raastha, Anagha’s acting credits also include a cameo in Vaashi (2022), Aanandam Paramanandam (2022), Dear Vaappi (2023) and the upcoming family drama Anbodu Kanmani, alongside Arjun Ashokan. Concluding the conversation by explaining how she picks her projects, Anagha says, “I’ve a very simple criteria—I should feel excited about doing the character. But the truth is also that I’m not getting enough projects to be choosy. I’m just picking from whatever little I get.”