Hridayam, Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey changed people’s perception of me as an actress: Darshana Rajendran

Malayalam actress Darshana Rajendran has been going from strength to strength with each movie in the past few years. Last year, the actress was part of two superhits – Hridayam and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, both of which she says has helped change people’s perception of her as an actress.

In an exclusive interview with us, the actress, whose latest film Purusha Pretham is streaming on Sony LIV, said that Hridayam changed a lot of things for her. “It placed me in ‘running in slow motion’ scenes that I have never done. It has changed how I have been perceived in the actor space,” she says.

Also read: Darshana Rajendran: In Purusha Pretham, I had to fully subscribe to the idea Krishand had in his mind | Exclusive 

The actress, who won lot of praise for portraying the titular character who decides to fight her abusive husband in the comedy Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, said that while the first half of the Vipin Das directorial had her in a familiar terrain, the second half came as a huge surprise for the audience.

This unpredictability has also helped in her characters in films such as C U Soon as well as Purusha Pretham. “I don’t think I have done enough for the audience to place me in a space where they know what’s coming – which I love. I love that fact when this film happened, Prashanth Alexander, before approaching me, thought I would say no because you are doing these commercial films. It’s completely unexpected of me to do this. But for me, it’s never been about all those things – the expectations or the rules of the industry. This is what I am supposed to do,” she explains.

Also read: Purusha Pretham review: This satire flips all the tropes of police procedurals. A must watch 

The actress also explained that she likes to keep it “simple”, when it comes to her selection criteria. “Does the character connect with me? Is it something that would be fun for me to play? Are these people whom I would like to work with? – these are all I factor in while I’m making the choices. It’s a fairly simple process. I just go with my instincts and it has been working till now,” Darshana says.