Movies carry weight of expectations

It has been three years since she made a brilliant comeback to acting after a 16-year hiatus. Manju Warrier, who returned to the film world through Rosshan Andrews’ How Old Are you, was later seen in three movies, which could not make much impact in the box office. Now the actress will be seen in a powerful avatar — that of an IPS officer — in Traffic-fame Rajesh Pillai’s Vettah. When quizzed about the increase of box office duds, as a person knowing the industry for 21 years, she says that the change of audience and their approach has a crucial role in the fate of movies.

“Of course, there is a massive change in the audience, but the main issue faced by us and them is ‘expectation’. Nowadays, they read reviews and articles on upcoming releases. Normally, the movie is attributed an image based on the elements in the article prior to release. So, while watching the film, audience would expect something fed by these articles. This is actually a big issue; it needs to be changed,” she says. The actress points out that cinema should not be viewed with prejudice. “Maybe somebody’s concept about the film is wrong; sometimes expectations would be above a particular level; both are not fair. The fall of all good films in the box office has the same reason. There were no such issues in the past,” she says, adding, “Many articles about my role in Vettah had misleading elements. One of those write-ups compares Sreebala IPS to my character in Pathram. In fact, these two roles cannot be compared at all. But one who reads it will expect such a role in Vettah. That is not fair.”

So, what made her choose Vettah? “When Rajesh came to me with this project, I was really thrilled. He is my favourite director; I have watched his Traffic several times. However, he was adamant to narrate the script even before I saved my dates. When I heard the script, I became more attracted to this project. It’s a wonderful psycho-thriller which gives importance to emotions instead of high-paced action. And I am getting to act as a police officer for the first time,” she says.

After being cast in the role of    an IPS officer, the buzz was that Manju had met senior cops in the state to study their mannerisms. “I had met some of the officers, but it was not for the movie. I have never tried to adopt anybody’s mannerisms or imitate them. Rajesh had asked me to avoid doing such things as he wanted Sreebala as an officer who does not have any shades of any officers we know,” she says. Though she avoided taking lessons to ‘become’ a cop, she did not miss the coaching camp to don the role of a volleyball coach in Deepu Karunakaran’s Karinkunnam Sixes. “Till date, I’m in no way related to the field of sports. So, for a ‘newcomer’ like me, the coaching was a must before doing this role. I had attended a three-day camp before the shoot,” she says.