Making waves in the west

From being a medical graduate to then realising that acting was her calling and later evolving into a screenplay writer and subsequently moving to the West, Lakshmi Devy’s journey has been adventurous. The actress, who was born in New York, raised in Kerala and pursued college education in Chennai, has also started a production house, FiDi Talkies LLC., in the US.

She is now a part of several TV shows in the US. In a chat with us, she speaks about her career and her tryst in the West.

“I was raised in quite a conservative family, where education was given foremost importance. I studied and performed dance and drama from a young age. I was  bit of an odd child — my mother always said that I was the ‘Alice in Wonderland’!

A concentrated approach towards education led me to becoming a doctor! But, by the time I finished medical school, I realised that my passion was acting,” Lakshmi starts the conversation.

Speaking about how her transition from being a doctor to an actress came about, she says, “I’ve been asked by many people over the years, whether I was forced to do medicine — that was not the case! The truth is, I never knew that acting was a career option! It may sound naive, but to me, actors and films were this magical concept that appealed to my inner self,” she says and adds, “Movies, no matter how random, always spoke to me more than actual life situations. I was spotted by a choreographer and thus began my modelling career. It soon paved way for the acting career.”

Lakshmi has acted in a handful of south Indian films including Nil Gavani Selladhay and Shivani in Tamil and Cinema Company in Malayalam. She feels that Masala Padam, in which she starred alongside Bobby Simha and Shiva, was a significant project in her career — “It (the film) was a milestone for me, as it was my first project where I had penned the screenplay. The whole process was both tumultuous and enriching.”

Explaining about her decision to move to the US, she says, “Post completing Masala Padam, I was in a bit of a conundrum as I knew my thirst to be part of incredible projects had grown. But in most of the projects I was being approached for, my characters were stereotypical and barely challenging. Global cinema always had a special appeal to me. I came to NY for a vacation to meet my sister, and I just stayed back. I decided that I was going to try my luck in projects here!”

Happy Divorce, a TV show pilot, is a recent project, which Lakshmi Devy is a part of. She excitedly shares tidbits about it – “Happy Divorce, is a story that is based on the question ‘how do you forgive the unforgivable?’. It revolves around the aspect of how, sometimes, the worst punishment is getting all that you’ve ever wanted. Working with director Jamal Hodge, who has been featured in Cannes SFC, Sundance, Tribeca and the Urban World Film Festival, was an absolute pleasure. He has an eye for detail and is just wonderful with actors. I play Rebecca in the pilot TV Drama. She is an ambitious lawyer, who is ruthless on a professional level, but still has a sense of vulnerability that has been toyed with.”

On the other projects which she is a part of currently, Lakshmi says, “I have just wrapped up Wank Bank, which is a hilariously comedic web series about a court mandated ‘Masturbators Anonymous Group’! It is directed and written by K.L Martin. I play an Indian girl named Meera, who is a part of the masturbators group. She is gorgeous, smart and believes from the bottom of her heart that everyone else in the group is way beneath her level. In spite of being able to speak perfect English, she insists on communicating only in Tamil. She just lets the group comprehend what they can, from her. I loved being able to speak in Tamil in an American production! It gave me a slight sense of home.”

Sharing with us in detail about the production house FiDi Talkies, LLC., she has started, Lakshmi says, “I named it after the Financial District here in Manhattan, New York, as it is one of my favourite places. Daro Mat is the first production under my banner. Apart from producing it, I’ve also written the screenplay as well as acted in it. The movie is in Hindi and Tamil. The story revolves around the simple thought process and feelings of most Indian girls. The film is directed by Unnikrishan P.P. and the cinematography is handled by Santhanakrishnan. The film was shot entirely in Mumbai, India. It will be submitted to the major film festivals across the world.”

On a concluding note, Lakshmi reveals about her future projects. “My next project under my production is a short film that I have written called Idle Hands. It will be shot entirely in New York. Currently it is in the pre-production stage. I am in the process of reading scripts and making decisions about my future projects. I will be joining the prestigious SAG- AFTRA union for actors. I look forward to mingling and collaborating with exceptional artistes in all areas of film making.”

(With inputs from Karun Raman)