BREAKING A JINX - PADMAPRIYA

Breaking a jinx


KK Moidu traces the career of Malayalam cinema's much-in-demand heroine, Padmapriya


Bangalore-based ex-model Padmapriya has broken a jinx surrounding new non-Malayalee heroines in more ways than once. After a successful debut with Kazhcha, she has gone on to act with almost all the superstars.
Her success becomes even more outstanding because it came at a time when other non-Malayalee new faces were leaving the Malayalam film industry for dearth of opportunities. But lady luck smiled at Padmapriya and within a short span she has acted opposite all the top stars, including Mammooty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Jayaram. Dilip happens to be the only exception.
Armed with a masters in business administration she was working for a multinational as a risk analyst before making her debut in director Blessy's Kazhcha. Mammooty was her leading man.
The actress's role in Kazhcha was that of a typical Malayalee housewife living in Kuttanadu. Though the film had all the trappings of an art film, viewers accepted the movie and its surprise success bolstered both Mammooty's as well as Padmapriya's careers. Though everyone liked Padmapriya in the movie, nobody expected her to become a saleable face in Malayalam cinema.
After playing a housewife and child's mother in Kazhcha , the actress was cast by director Sibi Malayil as a Muslim girl in love with a Hindu youth in Amritham, with Jayaram as her leading man. Amritham's failure at the box office, however, did not affect her career.
She turned lucky with her third release, Rajamanikam, director Anwar Rasheed's debut film, which turned out to be a mega hit. Again it had Mammooty in the lead role. Soon offers began pouring in for Padmapriya, despite the fact that she had very little to do in Rajamanikam. The movie's phenomenal success boosted her popularity.
Vadakkumnathan opposite Mohanlal put a stamp on Padmapriya's popularity in Malayalam cinema. For once along with other artistes she to got an opportunity to showcase her talents.Vadakkumnathan is scripted and directed by Girish Puthancherry. What was evident was her easy onscreen vibes with the much older Mohanlal.
She went on to co-star another frontline actor, Suresh Gopi, in Jayaraj's Aswaroodan, and will be seen opposite Mammooty again in Bhargavacharitham Moonnam Khandam.
She has also acted in other south Indian films. Tamil films Thavamai Thavamirundhu and Pattiyal made her a favourite of the local audience. The former was a romantic comedy, where she was cast opposite actor-writer-director Cheran. In the latter film, Pattiyal, she has been cast opposite Arya. Pattial, which also has Bharath and Pooja, has been directed by Vishnu Vardhan. Padmapriya played a girl employed in a garment factory. The film has been remade in Telugu as Gaayam.
Her upcoming projects in Malayalam are Karutha Pakshikal, directed by Kamal, where Mammooty will play the lead. Padmapriya plays Poonkody, a beggar. After just three movies with Mammooty, she is already being tipped as the actor's lucky mascot. In the last few years none of Mammooty's heroines have been repeated, Padmapriya has enjoyed that unique privilege. Even in the past decade just a handful of heroines like Shobhana, Divya Unni and Vani Vishwantah were cast more than once opposite the actor.
Another upcoming movie Yes, Your Honour, directed by VM Vinu, will see Padmapriya playing Sreenivasan's heroine. In Kuku Surendran's latest film, Anandham, she is playing a much younger Prithviraj's romantic lead.
In addition to her roles in Mammooty starrers, the actress will also be cast opposite her Vadakkumnathan hero, Mohanlal, in the upcoming movie, Kanal, directed by Viji Thampi and Chota Mumbai, directed by Anwar Rasheed, which will be released early next year.
If Kanal and Chota Mumbai are successful, Padmapriya will prove to be as successful a heroine for Mammooty as she is for Mohanlal.
Much of the credit for Padmapriya's Malayalam film career should go to Blessy, the director of Kazhcha. The film was his maiden venture as an independent director. Blessy's special talent for choosing new heroines was noticed while he was still an assistant to director Lohithadas. His other finds include Manya in Joker, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy in Arayannangalude Veedu, Meera Jasmine in Soothradharan.
Very few directors have been able to match his success rate with new heroines, most of whom vanish after the debut film. These include Gayathri Jayaram (Salperu Ramankutty), Bhavana Puri (Vettam), Priya Mani (Sathyam), Mallika Kapoor (Albhuthadweep), Sreya Reddy (Bharath Chandran IPS), Riya Sen (Ananthabhadram).
This failure of other new heroines is in sharp contrast to Blessy's introductions to the local film industry, Padmapriya and Meera Vasudevan (Thanmathra). Though Meera Vasudevan, unlike Padmapriya, has not co-starred any superstars, she continues to get work opposite actors like Kalabhavan Mani in Kali and Manoj K. Jayan in Ekaandam.
Another feather in Blessy's cap is the fact that he introduced both Padmapriya and Meera Vasudevan as mothers. Normally actors or actresses, who make their debuts as a mother or father are later offered only those kind of roles. But Padmapriya and Meera Vasudevan were lucky to have escaped that fate. Blessy's upcoming movie Palunku, starring Mammooty, will have another new face as heroine. Mammooty plays a middle-aged farmer from Idukki's hills. The audience expect the talented director to extract another heart-wrenching performance from the actor. Jagathy Sreekumar too plays an important role in the film. So does Blessy have a hat-trick on hand with this new heroine?