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Many avatars: Smitha Nishanth

Aishwarya Rai has worn the clothes she designed. She has sung in films. She learnt filmmaking from Hollywood, made documentaries and worked as an assistant director in Malayalam films. Now, she plans to direct Mohanlal in a film. She dances, paints and models. She is also into clay-modelling and graphics…

Smitha Nishanth loves to don many hats. “I have always wanted to do many things at the same time. I have been like that from childhood,” says the Dubai-based Smitha.

Smitha, who was born and bred in Kozhikode, is delighted to see her song, ‘Minnal kodiye…,’ from the Mohanlal-starrer ‘Flash’ being frequently aired on television channels.

“That song gave me a lot of confidence; I had almost stopped singing seriously when composer Gopi Sunder offered me the song,” she says.

Smitha is hopeful about her songs in the forthcoming film ‘Chempada.’

“The film is a musical, so the songs play an important role in it,” she says. She is currently working on an album, which she plans to launch internationally. “Though directing a film is my ambition at the moment, I want to concentrate on music too,” she says. To be a singer was not her ambition though when she left Kozhikode to study fashion designing at SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai.

“I had enjoyed my stint as a designer in Mumbai, but I also became interested in advertising at that time. Some of the top models, including Aishwarya Rai, Madhu Sapre and Milind Soman had worn my designs on the ramp; and I was featured in a programme on the BBC, as a designer from the East,” she claims. Smitha’s skills as a fashion designer proved useful during the making of ‘Chotta Mumbai’ (she had assisted its director Anwar Rasheed).

“I designed Mohanlal’s costumes for a song sequence and it was fun,” she smiles.

She also worked as an assistant director with Roshan Andrews during the shooting of ‘Notebook.’

“I hope to direct a film some time this year; I have spoken to Mohanlal and he has agreed to do it, though it is too early to say anything more. All I can tell you is that it will be an entertainer,” she says.

Smitha is disappointed to find very few women working behind the camera in Malayalam cinema. She says she has enjoyed making documentaries and short films.

The fashion designer in Smitha is disappointed that costume design is virtually ignored by Malayalam cinema.

“It’s unfortunate that little or no attention has been paid to costumes. Our heroines often have to wear clothes picked off the rack. We shouldn’t forget that cinema is a visual art and an aesthetically designed costume would add to the beauty of a scene,” she explains.

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