‘Mom is still a fiery actor’

Q What was it like, working with Dhanush?

It was great, as he is very senior to me. He’s called ‘Thalaiva’ for a reason. I remember, when we were shooting in Madurai, the crowd was huge and people were yelling ‘Thalaiva!’ I was like ‘Wow! What’s this?’ He is outstanding. I was inspired by him and my intention was to learn from him.

Q Down South, fans hero-worship actors.

I don’t know about that. All I know is, people in different places in the world have different ways of doing things. I have worked with Ranveer (Singh) and walked with him in malls where people screamed ‘Ranveer’ as loudly as they were screaming ‘Thalaiva’ in Madurai. Of course, hero-worship is more prevalent down South than here.

Q What did you do during the lockdown?

I watched movies and read books. In fact, I had stopped reading. Life had gotten so busy in 2019. It was a beautiful year for me, but hectic. Prioritizing time with myself, my reading, that was important. A large part of the lockdown was also family time. I spent a lot of my time with my mother and forced my brother to spend as much time as possible with me. I love my mom and my brother. Even If I have to sacrifice work sometimes to be with my mom and brother, I will do it.

Q What books did you read?
I read a lot of Russian literature. I finished Anna Karenina, which is a beautiful book. I also completed Madame Bovary and read a lot of [Leo] Tolstoy’s short stories. I love poems by Williams Wordsworth, the nature poet, too.

Q Your commercial with your mom is lovely. Will you do any films with her?

I don’t think she likes to work with me. Because she is my mom, if there is a hair of mine on my face while the shot is on, she might say ‘Cut’ and try to put my hair straight. I have this visual of her wanting to make me look the best, as I am her daughter. I don’t think I want to put her in such a situation.

My mom feels you need to give your 100% to your work, only then will you be able to get anything back. She goes to work excited and comes back doubly excited. As soon as she returns home, she says, ‘I had a lot of fun and did such good work.’

Mom was an actor before she became a mom. She is still a fiery actor.