'Admire Rema's fighting spirit': Devi Ajith on playing the slain politician's wife
Devi Ajith has been courageous in accepting Rema's role
By : priya sreekumar
Update: 2014-05-13 21:11 GMT
Kochi: Kerala has always been known to be politically active and the brutal killing of T.P. Chandrashekaran had sent shock waves across the state. A Mollywood film based on the leader, titled TP 51, is all set to hit the theatres soon.
Playing the slain leader’s wife Rema is Devi Ajith, who has shown courage by accepting the role. The role of Rema was offered to a many others before Devi agreed to do the role. Speaking about her reasons for accepting the role, she says, “A lot of actors refused to do the role in the belief that it would be a hardcore political film. But the film is not controversial at all. I play Rema in three different age groups — as a collegian before marriage, her life with TP after marriage and life after his death. Rema’s life has seen a lot of struggles. My father encouraged me to accept the role because it did not have any political undertones, contrary to general assumption.”
Devi had a lot of respect for Rema, which only went up a few notches after meeting her. She says, “I admire the woman for her fighting spirit. She is struggling through life but is facing it with courage.” Devi also adds that apart from the political angle, TP was a person who served humanity.
Devi cherishes the compliments from the cast and crew as well as some old friends from the industry who came to see the shoot and mentioned that her speech, mannerisms and body language mirrored Rema’s.
Talking about slipping into the shoes of Rema, Devi says, “The physical transformation to play the three different ages has been done without the aid of makeup. I have gone makeup free as far as possible. The college-going Rema is seen in two plaits, the married Rema was not too difficult to portray, but the Rema after her husband’s death was a challenge because she was not supposed to display her emotions. The last scene I shot was a night sequence where TP leaves home telling her to be brave if something happens to him; that scene was very emotional.”
In her next film titled Milli, Devi is paired with Rajesh Pillai and has signed her first Tamil film Sooraiyadan, with two more Malayalam projects in the pipeline.