Patience is rewarded with good films: Kavya

For long, a question on the minds of Malayali film lovers has been —when will Dileep and Kavya Madhavan be seen on screen together again?
Such a movie has materialised finally, that too, to be directed by none other than multiple National Award winning director —Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Pinneyum, an intense love story, features the two actors in the lead roles. Expectedly, Kavya Madhavan is elated, and says that the wait has been worth it.In conversation with the actress, for whom the film is special on many levels:
Acting as the female lead in an Adoor Gopalakrishnan film… Any jitters? To be honest, none, because you never prepare for an Adoor Gopalakrishnan film. You just say yes to the offer and then go to the set when asked to. All that matters to me is that Adoor thought of me for an important character in his film. I don’t even know the name of my character, or what the film is about, except that it is a love story. It is the creator of a character who knows what is needed for the role. Adoor has the confidence that he can get the best out of the actors and so there is no need for us to worry about it or try to imagine the character in our minds before going to the set.
You have acted in Adoor’s Nalu Pennungal earlier. How is he as a director? He is someone who can handle all kinds of artistes equally well. He might appear very strict but he is extremely comfortable to work with. At the same time, he is very much dedicated to his craft, and during a shot, his entire focus is on it. But between the takes, he cracks jokes and is like anyone else. However, for those who are used to noisy sets, his set might appear a little different, for it is quiet and peaceful. You can hear your own footsteps at times. He always has his own set of people around him, who understand him very well. For Nalu Pennungal, I had a very strong character, and three stages of her life were portrayed – as a school child, as someone who just got married, and as a mother of two, expecting her third. The dialect used in the film was the Adoor Malayalam. It was difficult but he made us dub ourselves. There were no other preparations needed for the film, except that he asked us to let go of beauty parlour visits for a while – no threading of eyebrows or haircut, since the film was set in the past.
We didn’t use any make-up either, just a little kohl, and oil on our hair. The positive part was that even the minutest change on face, like the slight reddening of your cheek, when you cry, reflected on screen.
You are doing a love story again after a gap… Actually my segment in 5 Sundarikal was a painful love story. It depicted the pain of a woman who committed suicide after the death of her loved one, but whose soul still waits for him. However, it didn’t convey on screen somehow, and people were more concerned about how the guy died. But yes, it is long since I did a full-fledged love story. I was always the ‘lover girl’ and now I get to act in a love story again, that too an intense one.
You are also acting with Dileep after four years. Any fears of gossips involving the two of you? This film is special in many ways, Adoor Gopalakrishnan is doing a film after eight years, and Dileep and I are acting together after Vellaripravinte Changathi in 2012. Our combination is something people have always appreciated, and we are frequently asked when we will be seen on screen together.
However, when you say Dileep and Kavya, somehow the first film that comes to people’s minds is still Meesa Madhavan. But that was purely a commercial entertainer. Pinneyum is a very realistic film, like life itself. And that is precisely the reason why Adoor didn’t want to reveal the story of the movie. People would start making assumptions about our equation in the film, he said. ‘Let the relationship be fresh and new.’ Ours will be two characters we have never done before.
As for gossips, like Adoor sir said, his films always had mainstream stars, and there is no other ‘duruddesham’ for casting the two of us. Neither of us had to face any unnecessary questions, as it is no ordinary director who has cast us. This is someone who is internationally known, and if he finds the two of us suitable individually and as a combination, that is the greatest acknowledgement ever.
Has it been a conscious decision of yours to do only a few projects a year? A question which every artiste who doesn’t do films continuously has to face from people around is- Why aren’t you doing films?’ I have had to face that even before a ‘How are you?’ The answer is that exciting films or characters are not coming to me. What is being offered to me are films or characters which could be the second or third parts of Khaddama. There is no point in doing that; it has been done already, and what I want is something different. There are people who have offered the entire remuneration for a film, not just the advance to me to commit to their films. You might be able to make money if you do such films, but people will never remember you. They might just dismiss you as someone who ‘did a lot of forgettable films and then disappeared’ But I believe that although it hurts at times to face the questions from the public, if you wait patiently, you will get good results at the end. I feel this film is the biggest gift from God in that sense, a reward for the patience. This is my 25th year in films, and I am lucky to have got such a good project. I hope it starts off a new phase in my life, in every way.