The luck factor

Whether it’s because the first version created mega ripples at the box office or else because somewhere, someone had a new vision for a story already told, successful films get remade all the time across all industries. It is without a modicum of doubt, a huge challenge to reprise a role from the original when comparisons are sure to be a by-product. Sandra Amy has had the incredible luck to be a part of not one but two successful remakes. She played the role of RJ Anjali in the recently released Jyothika-starrer Kaatrin Mozhi and will be seen in the Tamil remake of the cult film Arjun Reddy. 

Incidentally most Malayali audience would recollect Sandra for her villainous turn in a Malayalam serial.

It was the Arjun Reddy remake titled Varma that first came calling. “Actually I had taken a break from my serial because I found it getting increasingly boring and was not planning to take up any work when I got the call from Bala sir’s office for the role in Varma,” she says. Bala informed her upfront that the role would be small in terms of screen space. “I would have to be out of mind to not have taken up an offer by Bala sir, so I decided to act in the film,” states Sandra. It was on the second day of the shoot that the call for Kaatrin Mozhi reached her. Sandra was informed that it would be a remake of Tumhari Sulu and the role would of Vidya Balan’s colleague Albela. It was Sandra’s actor husband Prajin Padmanabhan who threw light on Radha’s credentials and asked her to see Tumhari Sulu.  

It was only later that Sandra got to know that her character R J Anjali would be commanding a lot more screen space than the original Albela. “I had to act opposite Jyothika Ma’am and Lakshmi Manchu and I also had a chance to shake a leg with them to the song Jimikki Kammal which I enjoyed, since I am a dancer.”, she says recollecting her first day of shoot. 

Call it luck or coincidence, Sandra who plays the role of a nurse in Varma, which is the launch pad of Vikrams’ son Dhruv, found her role getting meatier here too. “The film has a Bala touch and working with Bala sir was a great experience. Initially I was very nervous and my heart was in my mouth but all that slowly disappeared. He used to give me the script with two pages of dialogues and we had to act according to that and that was a learning experience too,”she gushes.  

Sandra who started off in Mollywood has not shunned Malayalam films; it is just that she is not getting opportunities from Mollywood. “Most industry people do not even realize that I am still acting. That could also be because I am married and settled in Chennai now.”

Up ahead is Thana where Sandra plays a heavily pregnant woman and this is a murder mystery she informs.