I'm at home in Sandalwood: Parvathi Menon

Actress Parvathi Menon, who is busy filming her third film in Kannada, will do a cameo in the Prithviraj-starrer Masters
In spite of giving commendable performances in Mollywood - be it in Notebook, Vinodayathra, Flash or the more recently released City of God, actress Parvathi Menon seems to be missing from the scene. The actress says it is Sandalwood the Kannada film industry that is keeping her away from Mollywood.
"Right now, I'm shooting for my third Kannada film, in which I star opposite Kannada star Shivarajkumar," says Parvathi, who entered filmdom through a popular programme on a Malayalam music channel.And she says she's comfortable in Sandalwood too. "My previous two films, alongside actor Puneet Rajkumar, did rather well. I love learning languages and I'm at home with Kannada now. I also dubbed for my role in the 2009 release Male Barali Manju Irali, which was directed by Vijayalakshmi Singh. I hope I get to dub in this film, too," she says.
Parvathi, who earned critical acclaim for her role as Maari in the 2008 Kollywood release Poo, didn't consider making a career in the Tamil film industry for a specific reason. "I played a village belle in Poo but little did I know that it was reason enough to typecast me in such roles. In fact, the next three films offered to me in Kollywood were all as a village girl! I didn't take up those, and the next one that came my way offered me an ultra-glamorous role which, again, I didn't want to do. I prefer doing characters that fall somewhere between these extremes," says Parvathi, who is juggling cinema and pursuing her masters in English Literature.
So is it goodbye to Malayalam, which was where it all began for her? Not at all, says Parvathi. "You'll soon catch me in Johhny Antony's next Malayalam venture - Master, albeit in a cameo," she concludes.
parvathy.nayar@timesgroup.com