I want to play characters that I need to work on: Poornima

After her much-lauded role in Rajiv Ravi’s period drama Thuramukham, in which she played a widowed woman weighed down by the struggles of her working class sons, Poornima Indrajith’s next is a very different, light-hearted, romantic film, titled Oru Kattil Oru Muri. The film, directed by Shanavas V Bavakkutty of Thottappan fame, has Hakkim Shah and Priyamvada in the other prominent roles. After nearly a decade’s gap, Raghunath Paleri has written the script for the film.

“The intriguing title attracted me and it has Paleri sir’s typical light, humorous touch. It revolves around how three people who unwittingly cross each other’s paths. I play a woman my age, but someone who is definitely different from me personally. She’s a Tamilian, who lives alone; the character excited me enough to want to play her,” says the actress. Poornima points out that she plays someone very different from her role in Thuramukham, where her character is shown moving from her late 20s to her 60s.

Poornima is also excited about a couple of OTT projects in her kitty. But she says that while there is a change in the characters that actresses her age are getting to play, it is still largely the stereotypical, accepted roles that are being recycled. “I've been listening to a lot of scripts and was very interested to bring out that side of me that I personally want to work on and see. I wanted to do something very different and after Thuramukhan, I was wondering how to move forward. OTT platforms and the acceptance of varied, senior women characters in films has opened up opportunities for writers and directors to come up with interesting roles, but having said that the character pool is still quite small and this was the only film that I’ve wanted to take on,” she says. "Also, women are getting to showcase their talents through multiple verticals. Not just the heroine characters, but women who are young, middle-aged and older, are getting to go centrestage."


Does she feel like a ‘senior’ on the sets now? “I don’t feel that (laughs),” she says. “And maybe because of the chemistry that I share with them, the youngsters on the sets have never made me feel like a senior. For me, there is only one relationship and that is friendship. I have never thrown any airs about being a ‘veteran’ who has been in the industry for long.”

Child artiste in Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare
I was a child artiste on Paleri sir’s Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare; I have acted and dubbed for the film. So, his face and moments from working on that film are part of my core memory, though I don’t remember things very vividly. But he told me about how he used to carry me around.



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