One and a half years ago if someone had told her that she would be doing a Gautham Menon film, Manjima Mohan would have laughed.
Today, she can’t believe that the big day is just around the corner.
Gautham Menon’s bilingual — Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (Tamil) and Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo (Telugu) — hits screens on November 11, with Mohan playing the lead role of Leela.
A Menon film means a performance backed role and not merely playing eye candy on screen.
While the Tamil version has Mohan romancing Simbu, in the Telugu version it’s Naga Chaitanya.
“Leela is a soft-spoken sweet natured girl, who has just finished college,” says the daughter of Malayali cinematographer, Vipin Mohan. “She is someone viewers can relate to.”
The film is the story of two people, their journey and what they deal with in life. The first half of the film is love and the second half brings in action.
“It’s not the stereotypical action scenes though, but something believable and realistically done,” says Mohan.
She found Simbu, a natural actor who did his scenes effortlessly.
“Nag Chaitanya is a committed actor and hard working,” adds Mohan.
She owes it to her director for the big break, who despite apprehensions of some people went ahead and cast her in his film, after watching the trailer of her Malayalam film, Oru Vadakkan Selfie.
“He is my mentor and I discuss my projects with him. It has been great learning under him. He believes in spontaneity and in one take only,” she says.
The supporting cast of includes singer Baba Sehgal, Daniel Balaji, Satish and Rakhi.
A.R. Rahman has composed music. Dan McArthur is the cinematographer.
Mohan is not new to filmdom though. At three, she first faced the camera for Malayalam film, Kaliyoonjal.
“I played Shalini’s character as a child. The role happened because the director [Anil Kumar] was looking for a child and since my father was working on the film, I was brought in,” recalls the mathematics graduate.
“It was a brief scene. All I had to do was run for a short distance and I was not even aware of the camera.”
More films in Malayalam followed and Mohan won the Kerala state award in 2000 for Madhuranombarakattu, directed by the veteran Kamal. Two years later, her second award came with Malayalam telefilm, Kabuliwallah.
Oru Vadakkan Selfie was her first film as heroine.
Mohan is now working on two Tamil films, one opposite Udayanidhi Stalin and the second opposite Vikram Prabhu.
Don’t miss it
Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada and Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo release in the UAE on November 11.
