'It was a dream come true'

It was a standing joke with the family. If they ever teased her about joining feature films after her acting stint in the TV serial Chakrangal, the pretty Remya Lakshman would reply airily, "I'll join films only if I get a Mani Ratnam movie or a role with Mammootty.'' Quite sure, the eventuality of acting with superstars and super directors were quite dim for a Malayalee expat girl in Abu Dhabi (though she had won many beauty pageants since she was 12).

And one fine day she received a call from film studio coordinator K.P. Salim, in Dubai, asking her if she will audition for a Malayalam movie. Starring none other than her idol – Mammootty.

This training administrator/coordinator in an Abu Dhabi-based company was shocked, to put it mildly. Remya recalls excitedly, "It was my day off and I was lazing around the house. And I got this call out of the blue. The unit had been shooting for the last six months in Dubai and they were hunting for a modern girl.

Would I be interested? I was shocked and surprised. "How did they hear about me?" I asked them. "Apparently, they had seen my interview in a Malayalam newspaper.''

At the outset, the scriptwriter, Renji Paniccker informed her that she was not playing the principal heroine in the film. The lead actress in this glossy, fast-paced multi-crore film, Dubai, directed by Joshi, is Anjala Zhaveri, a Mumbai star.

Remya's role is a negative one to start with as she's used as a pawn in a business feud between the main characters in the film – Mammootty and Hindi film actor, Nirmal Pandey. She elaborates, "I play the role of a spoilt brat who's come down from America. But, later I realise my mistake and I make amends.''

Dubai is produced by VBK Menon's Anugraha films and is scheduled to be released next month. The movie took a record eight months and around Rs 60 million to make, she says. (These figures are not the norm in the Malayalam film industry.)