Actor Nithya Menen has come a good distance. A reluctant actor, she was honoured with Nationwide Award for her stellar efficiency within the Tamil movie Thiruchitrambalam (2022) this 12 months. In a candid dialog with SCREEN, Nithya shared her ideas on the award, and the way she by no means wished to behave in movies and initially discovered it difficult to deal with the eye.
On Thiruchitrambalam turning into such an enormous success, Nithya says, “It’s troublesome to place it in phrases. My co-awardee Manasi (Gujarati actress Manasi Parekh) really expressed the sensation; she cried. That’s how all of us really feel however she confirmed it. It’s a particular factor.”
Awards, Nithya confesses, had been by no means her major focus. “Awards aren’t one thing I’ve been after in any respect, ever. I by no means even considered it. I end a movie and transfer on to the subsequent movie. I don’t even take into account if a movie of mine is a success or flop, what I get out of it. None of it was part of my thought course of. It was all the time work.”
The Nationwide Award, nevertheless, holds a deeper significance for Nithya. “For somebody with that mindset, the Nationwide Award means so much. It healed a number of issues inside me.” When probed additional, she mentioned, “You realize I’ve all the time finished issues in another way from the mainstream so it may get a bit exhausting generally. Each single struggle looks like you’re swimming upstream. So getting this sort of validation makes you are feeling okay (sighs), I’m doing the correct factor.”
Nithya has constantly defied trade norms, choosing unconventional roles and tasks. Nonetheless, when requested if she feels the strain to do extra movies, or do extra mainstream films, she says, “I don’t really feel the strain to be in masala, mainstream movies, as a result of I don’t like them as a lot. I don’t watch them; I don’t like them and don’t really feel I’m lacking out on something.”
As an alternative, she craves significant storytelling, “I do really feel like I’m lacking out on one thing once I see good movies, or good filmmakers making movies. Then I really feel, ‘Why did they not ask me?’.”
Is that why we don’t see her in Bollywood even after profitable hearts with movies like Mission Mangal with Vidya Balan and Akshay Kumar and internet collection Breathe with Abhishek Bachchan? In accordance with her, her selective strategy has led to restricted appearances in Bollywood movies. She says, “It’s totally different how it’s positioned. In Hindi, I don’t know if they’re conscious of my vary or what I can do. There’s additionally typecasting.”
Nonetheless, with the rise of pan-Indian movies, Nithya is open to collaborating with gifted administrators from throughout the nation. “I wish to work with good administrators who wish to make good movies. There are administrators that I’m very keen on, movies that I’m very keen on. Vikramaditya Motwane is one among them, Lootera is one among my favorite movies. I feel it’s a masterpiece. I’d like to work with folks like that. I really feel there may be a lot potential. What I’ve expressed until now’s simply the tip of the iceberg; any individual dig it up and provides me one thing to do this can put all of it on the market. I’m ready for that.”
Whereas Nithya’s performances have been liked by the audiences and the critics equally, she by no means aspired to develop into an actress. She confesses, “I by no means wished to be an actress. I had different goals. It was a little bit of a wrestle. When you’re not occupied with being (an actress), it isn’t a simple place for somebody who doesn’t need it. So all the eye made me go right into a shell. I didn’t need it. Not many individuals perceive this as a result of folks assume one turns into an actor to get consideration. However a few of us do it as a result of it’s a expertise, it’s one thing we’ve been given and it’s our approach of expressing our feelings. It was an excessive amount of for me. It had nothing to do with showbiz or leisure, that was very distant from my persona. So I needed to go in opposition to my nature… Like I don’t like consideration, I don’t like lights, I don’t like noise, I wish to be a wildlife filmmaker sooner or later.”
