Exclusive! Aishwarya Lekshmi on Kumari: We've taken Aithihyamala references for the film rooted in Kerala’s culture

After Archana 31 Not Out, Malayalam actress Aishwarya Lekshmi is gearing up for the release of her second film as a solo lead with Nirmal Sahadev’s Kumari. She had just wrapped up the shoot of the movie, which also has Shine Tom Chacko, Giju John, Swasika and Tanvi Ram as part of the cast.

The movie, which marks Nirmal’s second directorial venture after Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Ranam, is touted to be a mythological horror film and had completed majority of the shoot earlier this year.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, Aishwarya opened up about the movie, saying that unlike Archana 31 Not Out, the pressure on this film is huge. “Kumari is a film made on a big budget. So, the pressure is tremendous. Also, it’s a genre that I love watching. I love reading books about Greek or Roman mythology. Kumari is very rooted in Kerala’s culture and we have taken stories from Aithihyamala and also spoken to people who have been around for close to a century, and used all of those into the film,” said the actress, who recently won the OTTplay Award for Emerging OTT Star for Kaanekkaane.

Aishwarya has an interesting year ahead with another OTT release in Telugu titled Ammu, which also has Naveen Chandra and Bobby Simha. The actress, who was last seen in Arya’s sci-fi thriller Captain, is also part of Vishnu Vishal’s Gatta Kusti.

Her biggest release, however, is the upcoming Mani Ratnam magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan: I that is slated to hit theatres worldwide on September 30. The Malayalam actress plays the role of Poonguzheli in the film based on Kalki’s epic novel. Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Jayaram, Trisha, Sobhita Dhulipala and Sarathkumar are also part of the big budget period film that will be released in multiple languages.

In Malayalam, Aishwarya has completed shooting for Mammootty’s Christopher and is next set to join Dulquer Salmaan’s King of Kotha.