‘NEVER TRUST ANYONE’
Asmitha was already seen in films like Villalan and Thenkasi Pakathula, both released early this year. But in Karungali, she sports a deglammed look — a slum girl called Sengodi — as opposed to her earlier glamorous characters.
“I was called for auditions and was explained about Sengodi. Then I was asked to do homework, which I was hesitant about. I returned home unsure about how I would fit the role. I thought it would be tough working with a hard task master like Kalanchiyam.
I had to enact a scene in front of him and I tried crying without glycerine,” Asmitha recalls. Apparently, she was finalised only after the costume test that was followed by a five-day rehearsal, which tested the on-screen chemistry between Kalanchiyam’s character of Pottalam Ravi and Sengodi.
Regarding the significance of her character, Asmitha says that the story starts with Sengodi and ends with it, too. “This character believes a lot in her love and her lover Pottalam Ravi, a baddie, who she believes will change one day. But Pottalam Ravi kills her and this chases him throughout the film. The message that Sengodi’s character gives is — never trust anyone.” Asmitha recalls her shooting experience in the slums of Satyavani Muthunagar (near old Central Jail), Kasimedu, Thalamkuppam, Kattathotti (near Central Railway Station). “It was a 34- day shoot. About 14 boys from slums acted as my friends. It took me a lot of courage to go through all that, at least the first three days of the shoot. But, the simplicity of those people eased out a lot of hesitation and they started calling me akka,” she says.
Asmitha has two songs in the film, one of which was shot in the slums.
“Whenever a shot is about to start, the boys would always shout out an O Podu. It was fun and I miss all that now,” she says.
‘SOME CAN’T BE CURED’
Sunitha Varma was seen in Tamil films like 6’2 (2005), Iruvar Mattum (2006) and Piragu (2007) and has predominantly been in Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. Karungali is her fourth release in Tamil after 2007.
Of all the three heroines in the film, Sunitha Varma is the only character who plays an urban-bred girl.
“I play a doctor, whose patient is Amudha Nila. And at one point, Amudha Nila’s husband also comes as my patient,” she explains. Pottalam Ravi and her character come together in an incident, where he saves her life, by chance. “But this doctor, who learns of Pottalam Ravi’s true identity, tries to change him.
As a doctor, she has cured several patients but here she finds, after several attempts, that there are certain people who cannot be cured. However, she pays a heavy price for the same. That’s my part in the film,” she says.
‘LET US FIGHT’
Anjali of Angadi Theru fame plays the role of Amudha Nila in Karungaali.
“She hails from a village, gets married and comes to the city,” says Anjali, who appears in two different avatars in the film — one before marriage and another three-years after marriage.
“To bring out the contrast between the avatars, I had to put on about six kilos in three months,” she adds.
Anjali has many close up shots where only her eyes can be seen. “The best part of it all is that there is no make-up. I am in my natural look throughout the film,” she says. “My character sends a message that though women question tradition and culture, they’re silenced in many ways but still, they continue to fight for their rights.” While Karungaali has two other heroines as well, Anjali says she will not call it a threeheroine subject but a story that has three lines. “Srinivas, who plays my husband in the film is actually the hero/protagonist of the film. Kalanchiyam’s role as Pottalam Ravi is centered around my character. But it is the influence of three women in Kalanchiyam’s life and how it in turn it affects my character forms the crux of the story,” she says.
Anjali can also be seen in Mankatha, Thambi Vettothi Sundaram and Engeyum Eppodhum.
