Back in home turf

Iniya has been acting for the past 10 years, in fact, since childhood. But her first opportunity as a heroine came from Tamil industry, where she established as a bankable actor and only after that did she get the call from her home industry — Malayalam. Iniya says that her career in Tamil helped her enter M’town. “It was after watching my movies in Tamil that many directors here approached me for their projects. Interestingly, some of them were unaware that I am a Malayali,” she laughs.    

The actress points out that Mollywood directors hesitate to cast newcomers in pivotal roles. “I feel that the directors are not ready to try new faces in heroine roles or performance-oriented roles. But in other industries, freshers get enough opportunities.”

“I think that’s why many Malayali actors could establish their own space in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Even I could do many good roles in those languages than in Malayalam. I started my career as a child artiste in short films and tele-serials before shifting focus to modelling. My first call to a film was from Kannada and around the same time, I received a call from Tamil too and I chose to debut with Tamil,” she says.

Now the actress has made a big comeback to Malayalam with two projects — Swarna Kaduva and Girls, both of which hit the screens the same day.  “In Swarna Kaduva, I essay the role of Lovely, the wife of Suresh Krishna’s character which has much importance in the storyline. This is one character I have not done till date. I play a matured and powerful role of a mother of a boy — which is something new for me in Malayalam,” Iniya says.

Quizzed if she was confused while committing to a mother role, she says, “Confused for what? There is no point in avoiding a role just because it is a mother's role. Even that is acting. More than that, I was taking into account the importance of the character. I don’t think this may affect my next project. If so, I wouldn't have got calls from two new projects, which are currently under discussion. And it is not the first time that I act as a mother. In the state award-winning Ayal too, I played the mother of a small kid.”

In the meantime, in Girls, she appears in an extremely different avatar. “In Girls, I play a modern role. It is an interesting action-horror film which features only females,” she says.

On her selection criteria and absense from Malayalam, she says, “Even while acting in other industries, I was getting offers from Malayalam, but being very selective, I wanted to do fresh roles.”

Even while being busy with heroine roles, Iniya has appeared in movies in dance sequences. And she says, “Those are all friendly appearances. I love dancing and like to be part of dance shows. So when I get a call from my friends’ projects for guest appearances, I say yes. There is no point in referring it as ‘item dance’. It’s just guest appearance.”