PremiumExclusive! Meera Jasmine: I’ve tried not to be conscious of my National Award win at an early phase in career
The actress is making her Malayalam comeback with Sathyan Anthikad’s Makal, which hits theatres on April 29
Last Updated: 06.14 AM, Apr 29, 2022
Back in the 2000s, probably no other Malayalam actress impressed the audience as much as Meera Jasmine. The actress, who made her debut when she was just 19, went on to win the National Award for the Best Actress for the film Padaam Onnu: Oru Vilapam, just three years into her acting career.
In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, Meera opened up about the impact that winning the national honour, especially at an initial phase of her career, had on her consequent projects.
“I am humbled and blessed to receive the award. But there are two sides to that. One, the recognition makes you happy and responsible. But then, it also makes you take yourself very seriously when you win at an early stage in your career,” says the actress. “That’s bad because you become conscious about your work after a point.”
On how she handled this challenge, Meera tells us, “I, however, have tried not to let that bother me. I don’t listen to stories and pick roles thinking that I am a National Award-winner. I am happy that I won the award but now I don’t take it to my head.”
Meera is now all set to make her Malayalam comeback after a gap of five years that she had spent away from the industry – taking care of her business in Dubai and travelling. In Makal, she plays Juliet, a mother of a teenage daughter.
The Sathyan Anthikad directorial, which also has Jayaram, isn’t a film that revolves around a single character, she says, adding that it has several key roles that take the plot forward. “Working in the film gave me a lot of new moments as I got to perform a lot of emotional sequences that I hadn’t before,” she said, adding that the film’s scenes were rooted to reality.
The actress also says that she was able to rely on the experiences that she had gained over the years and that of watching the latest films and use those to better her performance in the movie, which also has Devika Sanjay and Naslen Gafoor.
“The movie was also shot in sync sound, and so I was careful even when paused to take a breath,” she says, adding that she didn’t want to be too melodramatic.