The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : "Acting is inborn, it cannot be learnt"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 22, 2007
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

"Acting is inborn, it cannot be learnt"

S.R.Ashok Kumar

"I prefer art films and would like to do such films. But one does not get such films often"

Actor Meera Jasmine

Meera Jasmine is one of the few actors who has won the coveted Oorvasi national award. She has acted in all four Southern languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. Her Tamil film `Thirumagan' was released recently. Meera Jasmine talks about her childhood and ambition in life.

I am a normal girl, but very sensitive. There are both positives and negatives to this. The positive side is that it improves my performance.

I had no idea of what acting involved when I first faced the camera. In school, I was a very normal girl. Nobody thought I could act, as I did not participate in plays.I was like that till my Standard XII. Suddenly, I was facing the camera for a full-length feature.

Even now it is hard for me to believe that people see me on the screen and give their valuable comments. I was very nervous on the first day of shooting. I knew nothing about acting and how and when to act. I learnt everything the hard way. The name of my first film was "Soothratharan" in Malayalam. The location was on a road in Palakkad.

I have acted in nearly 28 films in all the South Indian languages, with the highest in Malayalam. I have done nearly ten films in Tamil. The rest are in Kannada and Telugu. Though I got offers to do Hindi films, I was not able to take them up.

The films I did in Malayalam are the best ones. My favourite is "Padam Onnu Oru Vilaapam", as it got me the national award for best actor in 2004.

I do not think one can learn acting from an institute or from a book. Acting is inborn — it has to come from within. But film institutes can play a role in honing the talents of a person to an extent. Acting is like being the character in a story. For me, acting is God's gift.

My list of favourite artists is long. It includes Savithri, Revathi, Archana in Tamil, Manju Variyar and Shobana in Malayalam, Shabana Azmi, Tabu and Jaya Bhaduri in Hindi. Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan, Mammootty, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan are also my favourites.

Another artist whom I cannot forget is Shobha who gave a wonderful performance in "Pasi". Directors like K. Balachander, Bharathiraaja, J. Mahendran and others have given us wonderful films in Tamil. But I cannot forget the film "Pasi". After watching it, I was not able to sleep for some weeks. According to me, it is one of the best films in Tamil.

I prefer art films and would like to do such films. But one does not get such films often. So to balance it, we do some good commercial films also. One knows the films of director Padmarajan. If you say they are art films, yes. But they also click at the box office.

Music is my other interest. Whether it is instrumental, classical or film, I like all sorts of melodious music. I used to play music and study when I was young. Music never disturbed me. I believe the music helped me study better.

My ambition is to learn classical music. I think I have good voice and people will like it. My favourite music director is Ilaiyaraaja. One day, I would like to sing in films.

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