Aparna Balamurali’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the time it was announced that she has won the National Award for Best Actress for her performance in Soorarai Pottru. The film swept five national honours, including best feature Film, Best Actor (Suriya), Best Screenplay (Sudha Kongara and Shalini Usha Nair) and Best Background Score (GV Prakash).
“It’s (her win) totally unexpected. Yes, I definitely worked hard for the film, and Sudha ma’am (director of the film) was there with me throughout the journey. I’d say this is a result of good work, a lot of hard work. There is the satisfaction that the film has been recognized. And yes, this award will give me the push to work more, even harder in my next films. It’s a… I don’t know what to say,” she trails off, the excitement palpable in her voice.
Crediting Sudha for helping her deliver her best on screen, the actress says, “After the announcement came, I called Sudha ma’am. She was so happy… it all goes to her. She is one who pushed all of us to do our best. It all happened under her leadership, especially for me. A lot of people reject you after just seeing you. But she gave me one whole year to prepare for this role. I knew I had to do justice to that faith she had in me, that I should never let her down. That was always on my mind and that was my driving force.”
Aparna admits it took her a while for the feeling to sink in. “There was buzz about my performance from the evening before the announcements were made. But how much ever you may be prepared, it’s the National Award, and you always wonder if you really did win it! They (the jury) must have seen so many movies from all over the country and so, you really don’t know what to expect. When people discussed the possibility of me winning it, for a fleeting moment, I did wonder what it would be like if I won it. But till the announcements were officially made, it was like I was on the edge of my seat. Irrespective of whether I’d have won or not, I was happy that when Soorarai Pottru was discussed on a platform like that, my name was part of it. I mean, Tamil is not even my mother tongue. So, I feel it’s a small achievement I could make in my career,” she beams.
Aparna says she learnt a valuable lesson while working on the film. “I did a workshop with Kalairani ma’am for the film, and the most important thing I learnt was, how to learn whatever I have learnt so far in my career. When I started work on Soorarai Pottru, I was already an actress. I had been part of the industry for four-five years and had done over 13 films in Malayalam and Tamil. So, it was difficult for me to unlearn everything. But that process helped me so much, in terms of acting and speaking the slang. I was starting again from scratch. I was starting to learn what to do, how to do…. The most difficult thing is to unlearn, go to the set with a clean slate and start from zero. That is close to impossible. But that made a lot of difference,” she signs off.
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