From Balamani in her advanced film Nandanam (2002) to Radhamani in Oruthee, delivering on March 18, Navya Nair has voyaged far, as a lady and entertainer.
Talking via telephone from Kochi, the understandable entertainer says she is glad to make her rebound after 2012 as the main woman of Oruthee, a lady driven film.
Coordinated by VK Prakash, the film rotates around Radhamani, a guide in a jhangar in Kochi. Her hardships, her fantasies and the monotonous routine of a functioning lady structure the essence of the film. “Radhamani’s better half in West Asia loses his employment yet she comforts her significant other and faces existence with a hopeful mentality. Radhamani is a regular lady we see around us,” describes Navya.
She adds that Oruthee was picked on the grounds that the person is reasonable. “I have seen a few ladies, including my mom, do a tightrope stroll to attempt to do equity to the numerous jobs that society expects of ladies. I’m a decent audience and eyewitness and that assists me with getting into the skin of a person,” says the entertainer who has won two Kerala State Film grants for the best female entertainer for Nandanam, and Saira and Kanne Madanguka (2005)
Navya Nair
Was it difficult to play the character on a moving jhangar? “Not at all. Shot over 25 days in Kochi, I had no difficulty at all in becoming Radhamani. In Jalolsavam (2003), I had to row a small country boat. That was not easy and I spent a week learning how to do that,” says Navya.
She hastens to add that in the case of cinema, it is teamwork that is behind the success of a film or a character. Every single team member matters. No film is ever one person’s effort, she believes. Oruthee unfolds over three days and Navya in a no-makeup role, shines in the trailer.
Navya Nair
One of the frontline heroines in Malayalam cinema in the noughties and the first decade of the 22nd century, Navya had also made a mark in Tamil and Kannada. Like many other heroines in Malayalam cinema, she took a break from films after her marriage in 2010.
“Back then, wedded ladies didn’t get driving jobs. Best case scenario, they would get character jobs. Film is my obsession, not just a calling. I was not prepared to think twice about my job and was able to watch film from the sidelines,” she says.
