All set to make it big

Those who have watched the Malayalam movie Happy Wedding must have noticed Grace Antony. The young actor essayed the role of a bold student, who very pleasantly sings a Santhosh Pandit song when asked to sing her favourite song as part of a ragging session.  It was just a beginning for Grace, who had least expected to get selected when she went for the audition. However, this young girl had them right from the beginning – the passion to work hard when she  got a chance to pursue the career of her dreams and the patience to wait for the right time.

Grace selected the roles that came her way very wisely and finally, after a couple of character roles like the one in Tini Tom-starrer Kaliyan,  she is happy that her career has fallen on a right track with projects of different genre like Kumbalangi Nights coming her way.

Her recent release was Sakalakalashala. Detailing about her role in the Fahadh Faasil film, Grace says, “I appear as Fahadh’s wife in the movie. My name is Simi and a full on Kumbalangi house wife in terms of the slang that I speak and other mannerisms. My character is the one who understands the responsibilities of a daughter-in-law and always tries to keep the family together. I was approached by the writer of Kumbalangi Nights, Syam Pushkaran, for the role and it was in five to six meetings that the director of the movie, Madhu C. Narayanan, gave me the entire description of my character and how he would like to see me portray it.”

Grace adds that as she was playing a role that required her to behave like a women older than her age she was told to observe her mother and other housewives in her neighbourhood so that she could understand their body language and mannerisms and imbibe them properly so that it would seamlessly come to her while shooting.

When asked to describe her experience of working with the cast and crew of Kumbalangi Nights, Grace says, “I know that I am just a few films old but I will say that this is for the first time that I am seeing this amount of dedication and team work going behind a movie. The entire team of Kumbalangi Nights, be it the actors like Fahadh, Soubin and Shane, Dileesh Pothan, who is also co-producing the film, and every technician was completely dedicated to the script and always kept in mind not to get distracted from the treatment of the movie at any time. I was tensed when I first got to know that I was cast opposite Fahadh and I watched his interviews to know what kind of a person he is.

However, he was completely opposite of what I had thought. He makes it a point to give ample space to the artist he is working with. He doesn’t make it uncomfortable for the person opposite him in any manner as he very well knows that it can affect the entire scene. Moreover, he is a reserved actor who is always preparing and discussing about his scenes with the director. When on camera his transition used to surprise me each time.”

Grace also has a couple of other upcoming projects that include an untitled one produced by Sameer Tahir.