It's the time of love, not wedding

A big laugh is Lijomol’s response to her wedding rumours. It came from nowhere other than her own WhatsApp update a few weeks ago. “That was a challenge to put ‘getting married’ as status update,” she can’t hide the fun it evoked. At home, Lijomol Jose is enjoying a pretty long vacation to the very bits, after two back-to-back movies. Honey Bee 2.5 and Mammotty’s Streetlight later, she played the lady lead in Premasoothram of Urumbukal Urangarilla director Jiju Asokan. She feels cool acting alongside Balu Varghese and Chemban Vinod in the rom-com.

“The story is about a 1980-90s period romance. Balu is Prakash, besotted with Ammukutty, my character, from a very young age. It’s a one-sided love story. He later stumbles upon a ‘love guru’, to take guidance on the ways to make the feeling mutual,” she gives a brief intro of the movie that is expected to hit the marquee in January.

Lijo had very little time between Streetlight and Premasoothram to unwind and the three-month break after both the films keeps her busy travelling and finishing a lengthy to-do list at home. “My next would be a Tamil movie starting in February. I am in talks to sign a Malayalam film as well. It is too early to divulge more about both. I don’t prefer to flit from one movie to another. I wait for my chance and thoroughly enjoy what I do,” she says.  

Having acted in Maheshinte Prathikaram, Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan and Honey Bee, Lijo was apprehensive about her before-the-camera moments with Mammootty. “A brief combination scene was what we had together. With no airs of a big star, he said ‘hi’ first; that made me happy,” she recollects with a smile.

An eclectic cast awaited her in Prema Soothram — like Chemban Vinod and Sudheer Karamana. “Chemban chettan was so friendly; he came and talked to me. We have not met each other before, still he knew me. Balu and I had met during Honey Bee, and he was a good friend. The set had a campus-like atmosphere. Our focus was to complete the shooting in the stipulated time,” she says. Anumol, Marimayam-fame Manju and Neeraja are among the rest of the crew. Lijo also has high hopes about the release of her Kollywood debut with her Maheshinte... co-star Aparna Balamurali in January.