Back to school: Jomol

Of all our favourite actresses who trade their big screen life to settle down, have family and raise kids, few make a comeback many years later. Like Jomol, aka Gauri Chandrasekhar who just made a return to silver screen with V.K. Prakash (VKP) directed Careful. Sitting at her Kaloor residence, this mother to two daughters says her life remains the same before and after the U-Turn moment. “My family wanted me to do something I like. They have been there with me through the shoot in Kochi, bringing me food, picking me from the location,” smiles Gauri. VKP being a long-time family friend, Jomol signed without even listening to the script.

Jomol admits 14 years has been a long time. Her previous acting experience scarcely helped her to keep pace with the new and advanced techniques of filmmaking. “That was a firsthand experience for me with the new kind of moviemaking. None of my prior experience came to my help. I was like an open book and went to the sets like a new student is to a school,” says she. Different from other female actors who vanish off the screen until making a comeback, audience hadn’t totally lost a glimpse of their Janakikutty. She was seen on and off in television shows. At other times, Jomol is a hands-on mommy at service 24x7. The daughters are for the first time seeing their mom on big screen. The mother, who otherwise flips channels when her movies are shown on television, had no escape this time.

“They know I am an actor and would actually like to watch me on screen.” Before the sabbatical, she last appeared in the movie Rakkilipattu. Of the many reactions she received after the movie release, Jomol keeps the comments of one of her mentors, Soorya Krishnamoorthy in high regard. “He said I did it very well. It’s like an honour from such a busy person,” she says. Would she prefer to stay on? “I don’t mind continuing acting, as long as I get something good,” she clears.