It has been around two years since Manju Warrier made a comeback after a 16-year hiatus with Rosshan Andrrews’ How Old Are You. She has got a warm welcome from the film buffs and has been termed as the lady superstar of Mollywood. Now, the actress is gearing up to attain a new role as a theatre artiste with Sopnam’s Abhijnana Shakuntalam. Manju, who essays the central character Shakuntala, is also the producer of the project under the banner Manju Warrier Productions.
“This project offers me two new experiences,” says Manju, who looked ravishing in the black-bordered mundu and veshti. “First, of course being my debut stage experience for a drama. And it is for the first time I got a chance to read Sanskrit. To be frank, I have neither studied nor read the language even during my schooldays. My relation with Sanskrit also begins with this play,” she laughs.
Manju could now easily tell her first dialogue which starts ‘Itha… Ithaha…’. Though she was not trained in Sanskrit, she did not take much time to study the dialogues. “I was new to this language but I could grasp the entire script within six to seven days,” she says. About Kavalam Narayana Panicker, who composed the play, she says, “I feel that I was able to associate and receive the blessings of Kavalam sir during the last phase of his eventful and legendary career due to a divine connection. It was his dream to produce Abhijnana Shakuntalam again on stage. He had made arrangements for presenting the play in Delhi and in Ujjain. Now, on his demise, his family and associates are even more keen to fulfil his dream,” says the actress.
Kavalam Sreekumar announces the play
Abhijnana Shakuntalam will be staged on Monday at the Tagore Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram. Manju is also overwhelmed by the good response to her recent release Karinkunnam 6s from all the releasing centres. “I am really happy to hear that Karinkunnam 6s is being hailed as ‘Karinkunnam success’. In the film, I appear as Vandana, a volleyball coach who trains convicts to play a volleyball match. She has to overcome many odds while encouraging the jail birds to get the confidence and the sportsman spirit required to stay in the field and to fight against themselves and the system. A large part of the movie comprises volleyball matches and to facilitate the shoot, the team underwent rigorous professional training for two weeks under Kerala state volleyball coach T Harilal.”
Manju says that it is the theme which attracted her to this project. “There have been very few movies based on sports in Malayalam and the idea of a sports-based theme appealed to me as an actor. I had known Deepu Karunakaran for more than 15 years and his movies like Teja Bhai and Family and Crazy Gopalan are huge entertainers. Another factor I liked was the prospect of acting with a large cast; there are more than 40 actors in Karinkunnam 6s consisting of seniors and new generation actors.”
On her connection with sports, she says, “I have fond memories of playing cricket with my brother and children from the neighbourhood at our home in Nagercoil where I spent my childhood. Sports, naturally, took the backstage as I spent time learning dance. I do enjoy sports and follow cricket, tennis and football on TV.” So what is her next plan? “Currently I am busy with the rehearsal for the play. I will finalise my next film only after that. I have a few projects in Tamil, Bangla and Marathi, which are under various stages of discussion.”
