At an age when most kids of her age would be buried nose deep in their text books, Suja, studying in class VIII, had received a film offer and tried convincing her very reluctant parents that she wanted to act. Suja stood her ground and at last, her parents relented. She acted in a Tamil film that went on to become a major flop! Ten years thence, Suja, now Suja Varunee, looks back and concludes, “I started off without any knowledge of cinema and when the film flopped, I was very upset. But I picked up lessons from that failure. I learnt more about cinema, read books, learnt dance and spent time with technician friends knowing the business of cinema.”
Much later, Suja started doing introduction song sequences in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and even Malayalam films. But then she made a decision not to do any more song sequences. She says, “I was wondering why I was not getting any lead roles and then I understood the ‘once a dancer always a dancer’ syndrome in the industry. I stopped accepting dance sequences and slowly started getting second lead roles. Those roles got noticed and I signed the Tamil film Kidaari which was a big break in my career. My career is now on the right lane, but I am not in a hurry and want to act with the right team.”
Suja will now be seen in the Malayalam movie Achayans, starring Jayaram and Unni Mukundan, and again, it was a quirk of fate that got her a role in the film. She explains, “I was playing for the Chennai team as a part of the Badminton League and a match was held in Kochi. I guess someone spotted me and when the finals were held in Malaysia, Edavela Babu said that I would be doing a Malayalam film because the director thought I was apt for the role. The director Kannan Thamarakkulam called me, I liked my role and that is how I became a part of Achayans.”
Suja plays the role of CI Panchami and she completely enjoyed her outing in Malayalam. She speaks highly of her co-stars, technicians and the director who made her feel at home. Suja recalls,”Manian Pillai Raju made me laugh so much that even when the scene called for some serious expressions, he would crack a joke and I would collapse laughing.” Obviously, that means that Suja understands Malayalam but cannot speak so well. Malayalam films, she says, are very realistic and feels heroines get more meaty roles. Suja watches Mollywood films and her favourite stars are Mohanlal, Mammootty, Nivin Pauly and Dulquer Salmaan. Before ending, she says, “I have some good friends like Bhavana and Remya Nambeesan in Mollywood.”
