It's raining everywhere, especially in Irinjalakuda. Before she slips into the busy schedules of her Telugu movie again in a couple of days, Anupama Parameswaran is vacationing at her home here named Premam. Exactly two years since making her filmy debut in Premam, she has got a home with that name.
Many moons ago, the Erekathu ancestral home existed in the same space before the old structure gave way for a new house. It hadn't a name yet and looks like it was waiting for the Premam tag. “Everyone knew our home by the family name. It did not bear a special name even when my dad built a new one on the same space. Recently when it got renovated, we couldn’t think of name more appropriate than this,” she says.
Whose choice was it to name it Premam? Certainly not Anupama's. “Amma asked first why the name couldn't be Premam. Achan agreed. My younger brother was a tad sceptical, but everyone liked the idea. After all, the movie is part of the reason for my home to be realised,” gushes Anupama.
On the terracotta coloured lion guarded gatepost, flaunts the name is engraved exactly in the same way as the film's butterfly logo.
The gatepost of Anupama’s new home flaunts the name Premam, exactly as the film’s logo.
“We picked the best accessible artisan in our place, one Satheesh in Mapranam, so popular for his dexterity in carving wood works for Lalettan. Achan wanted the copy of the logo modeled accordingly on wood. The final thing was amazing. So flawlessly he does his job," she says excitedly.
The house warming ceremony was when her dad returned from Qatar. To share some moments together with her family, Anupama has flown all the way from the movie location in Visakhapatnam. In the Kishore Tirumala's untitled romantic film, she is paired opposite Ram Pothineni. Yeah, we haven't heard her since Jomonte Suviseshangal. Why she is not seen in M-Town? Pat comes the reply.
“I am listening to stories in Malayalam. My focus is on acting where I am fully engrossed in and improving myself. There is no rushing into things and am patient for good roles to come,” says Anupama. When our female actors are faces of commercials, Anupama has her rules for doing celebrity endorsements as well. “If I do something as such, I am keen on doing it for the collective good," she reasons.
Not to be forgotten, the latest Telugu movie she has acted, Sathamanam Bhavati, was given the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment- Golden Lotus Award at the 64th National Film Awards.
“The movie presented me with the kind of a role I have not handled so far. It was a family drama. There is a love story that runs in between, much different from the mainstream romantic tales we have seen and heard so far,” she explains.
Back home, Anupama is enjoying this brief cool-off time to the fullest. To make things awesome, she has got the company of Whiskey, a brand new puppy she brought home just a week ago. Ever since her first pet Snoopy left a void, she has decided not to bring another to his place. Several years from then, she could not resist the pull of a charming Whiskey.
“After Snoopy, a baby squirrel was with me for a while. When this movie was on, I noticed at my director's home a pet dog of the same breed as Whiskey.
“I liked him instantly and wished to have one. We searched in places in Kerala, but couldn't find one. Finally, my friends found Whiskey from Bengaluru who bought him for me. He is barely 40 or 45 days old with tiny teeth popping out in his mouth. I get a lot of bites,” smiles Anupama.
