I did a re-audition to land my first role: Anishma Anilkumar

I have never thought of becoming anything other than an actress,” says Anishma Anilkumar. The Poovan actress says she has wanted to be in films for as long as she can remember. “I used to watch films a lot since I was young. It’s exciting that I am finally where I wanted to be. I studied engineering, so maybe, if I didn’t become an actress, I would have written PSC exams and become a government employee,” she says. Anishma has Premalu director Gireesh AD’s I am Kathalan with Naslen and Sivaprasad’s Marana Mass alongside Basil Joseph, set for release.
‘Was difficult to convince my family to let me join films’
‘I worked hard to be part of films, though my family didn’t want me to be in this field. During Covid, we only needed to audition online, so I sent photos for Poovan. They called me a few months later asking me to go to Kochi. I am from Thiruvananthapuram and convincing my family was hard, but they agreed. I didn’t get selected in the first audition. But later, I was called for a re-audition and got in.’
‘Gireesh AD called me for audition of I am Kathalan on the sets of Poovan’
‘Playing Sini in Poovan was very special. It was my first time facing the camera as an actress, so I was tense when we began the project. But actually, I didn’t even need to put a lot of effort into the character, because it was that of a girl next door that we saw around us. It was fun and I went with the flow after we began the shoot. That’s where I met Gireesh AD, who invited me for an audition for his film.’