Homeless women's struggles moved me: Priyanka

Known for portraying intense characters that have fetched her laurels like the State Award for the Best Actress in the past, Priyanka Nair is often termed an artiste of serious cinema. Her latest film Jalam, which revolves around the trials and tribulations faced by her character Seethalakshmi, made news recently for being shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
Ask Priyanka about it and she says candidly, “I came to know about the Oscar entry from the news, but don’t know more details about it.That said, I am very happy for the team behind Jalam.”
In the movie, her character Seethalakshmi is a homeless woman. “The film showcases various stages of my character’s life from childhood to being the mother of a five-year-old. It’s about how in each stage of her life, she tries but fails to have a piece of land she can call her own,” explains Priyanka.
Portraying the mental agony of the character was the core of her performance, says the artiste. “A woman, who gets lonely and homeless in life, can go through much physical and mental harassment, and the film shows how despite all that, she continues to fight.” Her character and the son are forced to seek shelter under a bridge and the film is inspired from a real-life story of Jomon and Asha from Kottayam. Priyanka reveals that upon hearing about the role, she felt it to be a strong character, which urged her to sign the film. “I found her predicament to be quite moving. Moreover, I felt confident as there was a strong team behind it with director Padmakumar, scriptwriter Suresh Kumar and cinematographer Vinod Illampally,” she says.
Glance through her career trajectory and one can see many out-of-the-ordinary characters. Are they consciously picked? She says, “No, I believe in destiny. There are times when I wasn’t able to do some films which I wanted to, and also occasions where I ended up signing some projects I wasn’t keen about. Now, I believe that the characters that are destined to happen will come to me.”