A Southern grand slam: Asha Sharath

No one can argue that Lady Luck has been smiling rather benevolently on Asha Sharath who has the envious distinction of acting with almost all the big names in the South like Mammootty, Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan. She has also worked with  Mollywood actors like Lal, Biju Menon, Dileep, Anoop Menon and Indrajith. Saying that she is indeed blessed, Asha opines, “I sometimes feel that I am suspended in a dream which I never ever envisaged.”

They say when it rains, sometimes it pours and it has been raining offers for Asha from across the Southern industries. Drishyam in which she played IG Geetha Prabhakar was the turning point in her professional life that propelled her to dizzying heights paving the way for her entry into Tamil and Kannada film industries where she essayed the same roles in the remakes. Now she has completed the South circuit by marking her entry into Telugu through the film Bhagmati.

We caught up with Asha in the midst of her busy schedule and she made it a point to call back when she was free. Incidentally, it was Drishyam that made her Telugu entry possible. Asha explains, “The project came to me because the makers had seen both Drishyam and Papanasam. I had been getting offers from Telugu earlier but nothing really excited the actor in me. In Bhagmati, I play Vaisnavi Reddy, a CBI officer.”

The film is a female-oriented one and I play an important role. Incidentally, Tabu was to have played this role which she could not because of date issues, so it is a privilege to be considered instead. The IG I played in Drishyam and my character in Bhagmati are slightly different — Vaishnavi is very bold but she handles people tactfully, but both are brilliant and intelligent women.”

The first schedule of the film is over. Talking about her experience in Telugu, Asha says, “What really made me happy was that the director G. Ashok knows Malayalam, so that made it easier for me to understand my dialogues.” Mollywood actors like Jayaram and Unni Mukundan are also a part of this film which has Anushka Shetty in the lead. Asha mentions that the crew was very supportive and took pains to smooth over some dialogue hiccups she faced. Winds of change have been blowing across the industries, bringing with it glad tidings for married actresses who are being handpicked for strong roles in women-oriented films.

Asha points out that Sheela, Sharadha and Jayabharati had played such roles in the past, but there was a time in between when women were relegated to being arm candy. She adds, “I am not asking for women-oriented films but wish that women are given roles that are important to the storyline and I believe that is happening now.” Talking about the differences between the industries, Asha asserts that she is most comfortable in Malayalam because she has control over her dialogue delivery. Tamil is a language she knows and Telugu is something she is beginning to grasp.  

Asha has been selective about her roles; the reason — family! Her husband Sharath and daughters Uthara and Keerthana are her top priority. She says, “I committed to only three films this year — PaVa, Anuraga Karikkin Vellam and King Liar. I have a dance school in Dubai and I do dance programmes in between. But for the past two months, I have not been doing any stage performance as my daughters have their holidays, so I was completely with them. It is easy for me to maintain a work-family balance because I know exactly what is important to me — my family. Once you have your priorities sorted, there is no scope for any see-sawing between career and family.”

Asha reveals that her daughters are learning dance and adds, “They mention that they like acting but I have left it to them to finally decide their path.” Bhagmati is a long project that will take up some time and she is in discussions with Tamil and Malayalam filmmakers but she emphasises, “My first preference will always be Malayalam and only if I get good characters in other languages will I take them up.”