Though Mohanlal-starrer Red Wine received a lukewarm response at the box office, it was Maria Yohanan’s stepping stone into the world of cinema. As she puts it, Red Wine was a male-oriented movie and there was not much for the female characters to do. However, Maria’s character of Jasmin, a Muslim girl, gave her the big break and paved the way for Theeram, which is an intense yet complicated love story, according to her.
Ask her more about Theeram and she says, “The character of Suhra has molded me a lot as an actor. After Red Wine, I started receiving offers from the Malayalam film industry, but I chose my law studies over it as I wanted to complete my degree. After a gap of two years, when I got to read the story of Theeram, I got a feeling that I should do it mainly because unlike my first movie, Theeram had the scope for performance, which according to me is an inevitable part of being an actor.”
However Maria had apprehensions about being typecast by playing a Muslim character again. “The main reason that landed me the role of Suhra was because Saheed Arafath, the director of Theeram, was looking for a face that could be apt for a Muslim character. He came across Jasmin and thought of approaching me,” she adds, in a perplexed tone. According to Maria, zeroing in on a project in the present scenario, in addition to the luck factor, is also tricky because one needs to chose movies very carefully.
Maria, who is a model, says it was a bit tough for her to get into Suhra’s shoes. “Suhra’s body language, the way she talks, reacts and all other mannerisms are that of a girl who looks after her family. Yet the character is very subtle as she is also deeply in love with Ali. It was tough, but I am a director’s actor and did exactly what my director guided me to do and hope the efforts pay off,” she adds.
Theeram will also mark veteran actor Ratheesh’s son Pranav’s debut. Sharing her experience of working with him, Maria says Pranav, though an introvert, is a talented actor and now one of her good friends too.
When asked about her future projects and plans in the movie industry, Maria says she is here to stay. She aspires to become a scriptwriter as writing is something she has always loved to do. “If I didn’t become an actor, I would be a writer. I have completed a script and have also discussed it with Saheed Sir. He liked it and has told me that we might work on it in near future. I have my fingers crossed,” she concludes.
