National Award-winning actress Archana, and Easwari Rao pupils from the school instituted by ace filmmaker-cinematographer, the late Balu Mahendra — are back to donning the greasepaint in Tamil after almost a decade, with a movie titled Azhiyadha Kolangal (AK). Easwari Rao and Archana’s brother Deva Sinha also turn producers with AK, which is directed by MR Bharathy, a journalist and longtime friend of Balu Mahendra.
Besides them, Bharathy has brought onboard, veterans including Revathy, Nasser and Prakash Raj.
Archana tells DC, “This film is a tribute to our mentor Balu Mahendra sir, and so we wanted to use a title from one of his evergreen movies, Azhiyadha Kolangal. But this film’s story has nothing to do with his movie.”
Archana elaborates that both Bharathy and she deeply missed their guru Mahendra after his death. “I am a very serious student of Balu sir. You need a certain level of maturity to be his student, as well as to be a part of his meaningful films. Both of us felt that Tamil cinema lacks subjects dealing with middle-aged women. Also, when a heroine turns 26, she is offered only sister, anni and mother roles. That’s precisely the reason I was keeping away from appearing before the camera. So, when we wanted to do something on those lines, we took this woman-centric script and made it into a film. Prakash Raj and I play the lead characters. And Eswari Rao who is also doing a small role and shares the same wavelength as ours, pitched in as a producer.”
On roping in Revathy she says, “Revathy and I are have been friends for 15 years but we never openly don’t flaunt our friendship, because we like our space and privacy. I felt Revathy would be apt for the role of Prakash Raj’s wife. Her role is the heart and soul of the film.”
Talking about the film Bharathy says, “It’s an emotional drama and begins on a rainy night when two friends, a woman and a man who were classmates 24 years ago, meet. What happens thereafter forms the rest of the film.”
Nasser has been roped in to play a police officer. “Since Nasser was my classmate in the Film Institute, the moment I told him about the project, he only asked ‘When do you want me’?”
On turning producer Easwari says, “I got my identity through cinema. It has given me a good life. And this is my way of giving back to the industry.” (Smiles).¨
