Bowled over by cinema
P.K. AJITH KUMAR
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After a lull, Meera Vasudevan is back in the reckoning with a wide range of roles in her kitty.
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PHOTOS: S. RAMESH KURUP
CHARISMATIC: Meera Vasudevan proves that the visual medium is her canvas with her characters on the big and small screens.
It was during a cricket World Cup season that Meera Vasudevan was discovered by the world at large.
Four years ago, when she appeared on television sets, dressed as a Malayali girl, in the traditional set mundu, chanting `Om Cricketaya Namah' in an advertisement, she caught the eye of viewers. Among them was the mother of Paravati Balagopalan, a Mumbai-based Malayali director of television soaps.
Author-backed role
Parvati was on the lookout for an actor to play the lead in her maiden feature film, `Rules - Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula.' Her mother asked her to take a look at the girl in the cricket ad. She did, and was bowled over. Meera was selected for the author-backed role of a diffident girl who succeeds in winning the heart of a top model.
The film was noticed by critics; its heroine even more so. It was a promising debut. She, however, was not flooded with offers and did not quite become the latest sensation of Bollywood.
"That was because I don't come from a filmy family, don't have a godfather, refused to be part of the casting couch and wasn't willing to shed my clothes," says Meera, on the set of debutant director Bipin Prabhakar's `Khaki,' in Kozhikode.
"I want to act, that's my passion, but more than that I want to keep my dignity. I know that I haven't done sensational work after `Rules... ' in Hindi cinema, but I am glad that I have been able to do good films in other languages, especially `Thanmathra.'"
She says Blessy's film could not have come at a better time. "That was the time I needed work badly; neither I nor my husband, Vishal, a cinematographer, had much work or money. "
When she met Blessy, she was not sure if she would get the role. "I was married and I found that a section of the industry has a problem in casting a married woman as the heroine. I am grateful to Mohanlal who had no such problem; otherwise I probably might not have done `Thanmathra.' I was supposed to play a mother of a boy who was the same age as my younger sister. It remains my most challenging role yet; I happily added 15 kg to my weight so that I would look the part."
The dedication has eventually helped her. At the moment, she is feeling on top of the world. Three Bollywood films `Thodi Life Thodi Magic,' `Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas' and `Magic Bat,' in all of which she plays the female lead, are due to hit cinemas. One of her Malayalam films, `Ekantham' was released last week. She has been offered a couple of good Malayalam films and her debut serial in Malayalam, `Kanalpoovu,' is currently being aired on Kairali to rave reviews. Her work on the India Rendezvous show for Discovery Travel & Living has also been appreciated.
Dwelling upon her decision to make her bow on the small screen she says, "I don't think any actor can ignore television now; even Shah Rukh Khan and Ambitabh Bachchan are doing it. Shooting for the Discovery show was great fun; I got an opportunity to meet so many interesting people. I decided to do `Kanalpoovu' because I found the character irresistible. Suhasini is a woman who doesn't give up despite being sold to a brothel by the man she loved and trusted. In `Khaki,' I play Mukesh's wife who supports the actions of her righteous brother-in-law (Prithviraj), though her husband does not quite agree with her."
"I am proud of what I have done in my life, as I am a self-made woman, though I have been lucky that my family has been supportive," says Meera, who knew she wanted to act when she saw her younger sister, Ashwini, shooting as a child artiste for `Jaanam Samjha Karo,' a Salman Khan starrer. "I used to choreograph dances, write and direct plays while at school. "
Meera would one day like to direct a film, too. "I want to do so many things. I would like to do a Bo Derek in a Bond film, and an Indian version of `Kill Bill,'" she says.
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