Glamour gives way to character in Mollywood

Glamour is no longer the reason why M’wood directors are bringing in actresses from other industries. They seem to be more concerned about finding the perfect cast than with the nativity of the actress
When news went around that Andrea Jeremiah was being cast as the lead actress for Rajeev Ravi’s Annayum Rasoolum, everyone thought the actress would be seen in her glamourous avatar, with an item dance thrown in.
However, Andrea, sans make-up in ordinary clothes with a sober expression throughout the film, made the audience sit up and take note. It seemed to break the convention of bringing in an actress from another industry for the glamour element; Andrea was in the film just because she was appropriate for the role.
And she is not the only one. Anjali Patil, who gave a brilliant performance in Rajesh Touchriver’s Ente, looked every bit the average Malayali teenager. Similarly, nobody could guess that Tanushree Ghosh, who played the lead in Arun Kumar Aravind’s Ee Adutha Kaalathu was a Bengali actress, a glamourous one too. Arun Kumar had told us earlier that he couldn’t find somebody better than Tanushree to play the character. The other imports include Kamalini Mukherjee in V K Prakash’s Netholi Oru Cheriya Meenalla and Genelia D’Souza in Santhosh Sivan’s Urumi. None of these actresses are in these films for their glamour, and do not seem out of place or unsuitable for the roles they portray.
“The trend can be attributed to the changing face of Malayalam cinema. The focus has shifted from mindless entertainment to script and character. Earlier, an actress would be imported mainly to add to the glam quotient and we have had actresses, both known and unknown, contributing nothing much to the story,” says Rakesh K, an assistant director.
“Most of these actresses were paired opposite the two superstars of Malayalam, Mohanlal and Mammootty, and looked quite out of place,” he adds. We’ve seen Katrina Kaif, Urmila Matondker, Shriya Saran, Sameera Reddy, Parvathi Melton, Lakshmi Rai, Anjala Zaveri, Rambha, Sneha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Tisca Chopra, Yami Gautam and many more making their Mollywood entry. However, not only did they fail to make an impact, they were forgotten soon after.
Apparently, there have been miscasts as well. “Bhoomika Chowla didn’t look the average middle class housewife in Bhramaram. Even Isha Talwar did not actually have the looks or attitude of a Malabari Muslim girl. The film just clicked because of a combination of several factors,” points out an industry insider who does not wish to be named. “When a director takes pains to choose the right actress from another industry, the results will surely show. There is no point in casting a Bollywood actress just to keep up with the trend,” he adds.
This year will see many more non-Malayali actresses such as Rituparna Sengupta and Umang Jain proving their acting prowess in M-Town. Hats off to a new era!