My Malayalam debut was fascinating: Eesha Rebba

Eesha Rebba, who has broken stereotypes in Ottu, her debut film in Malayalam, is confident that she will charm audiences.  The actress is excited that she has performed her own stunts in the film, a Malayalam-Tamil bilingual about the bond between two friends. She says it’s something she’s always wanted to do, and is glad that she finally got the chance to live her dream.

“I always wanted to work in the Malayalam industry, which is known for realistic scripts. Working for Ottu has been an amazing experience,” she says about the film directed by Fellini.

“This is a big Malayalam film in terms of budget, and has an ensemble cast including Arvind Swami, Kunchacko Boban, etc,” she explains, adding that it was a learning experience for her.

When we ask the actress about her role, she says it is one with two shades — innocent and vulnerable as well as intense. “When the director narrated the story to me, I was hooked by this layered role,” she says.

Eesha Rebba from Ottu

It was for the intense facet of the character that she had to perform fights on her own. When she met the film’s fight master, she told him that she was keen to do all the stunts herself, and that she could go to ‘any length.’

“I did not prepare specially for the action scenes, but during the lockdown I trained in martial arts and kickboxing extensively to up my fitness game, so that experience came in handy,” says Eesha.

She adds that the fight master was surprised at her suppleness and later enhanced the fight sequences, realising her confidence level.
Eesha says she realised that if one knows the technique, it is easy to pull off action sequences. “And with practice we can ace stunts,” she adds.

In fact, Eesha’s action sequences have turned out so well that the writer Sanjeev told her he would write an action script for her. “It’s so heartening. That’s what we are looking at — getting author-backed and strong roles and pushing ourselves,” she says.

Though she described Malayalam as a ‘tongue twister’ Eesha says since she knew Tamil, picking up Malayalam was relatively easy. “Moreover, I started speaking to my crew in Malayalam, so it gave me an impetus to pick up more of the language,” she shares.

Eesha has now worked in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. The actress says the Ottu filmmakers approached her after seeing her photos on social media and watching her Telugu films. She finds that working in multiple languages is exciting.

“It’s always nice to work in other languages. I want to be part of a good project. Content is now consumed innovatively. Earlier there was no source to watch Tamil and Malayalam films (apart from dubbing), but with the emergence of OTT, I think the equation is changing,” the actress says.