Exclusive! I saw Drishyam 2, but I did not let it influence my interpretation of Sindhu: Aarohi Narayan

Aarohi Narayan is quite kicked about her release this week. The actress plays Sindhu, the older daughter of Ravichandran’s Rajendra Ponnappa in Drishya 2, the remake of the Malayalam hit Drishyam 2. Unlike the first installment, where her character is only responsible for the events in the story, this time around, Sindhu is seen dealing with the aftermath of it all. There’s a lot more focus on her coping mechanism, or rather the lack of it, owing to which Rajendra Ponnappa and wife Seetha spend a lot of time and effort in her care.

This, says Aarohi, was what she saw as her personal challenge, as the actress did not want to replicate character traits from the original, and instead chose to give Sindhu her own interpretation. “In fact, when Drishyam 2 came out, I did not see it immediately. Even when I did, I watched it in bits and parts, because I did not want to get influenced by the portrayal of the character as done by Ansiba Hassan in the original. My character, Sindhu, has PTSD, and I have presented her from my perspective, aided, of course, by the story-telling of P Vasu sir,” she says.

Drishya 2, though, comes almost 10 months after the original dropped on OTT, and those who wanted to know how the story unfolds would have seen it already. How does a Drishya 2 makes sense then? “Drishyam/Drishya/Drushyam, as the case may be, is a brand by itself. Each also has its own audience. A Kannada, Telugu or Tamil remake makes sense for audiences in B & C centres, where people may not have access to said OTT platform and would prefer to watch it in the local language, with actors they relate to,” explains the actress.

The film’s release comes at a good time, incidentally, with its major competitor, Avatara Purusha Part 1 pushed ahead, giving it a clear window. Beside Ravichandran and Navya Nair, Drishya 2 also stars Asha Sharath, Prabhu. Pramod Shetty, Lasya Nagaraj, Sonu Gowda and Anant Nag, among others.