Esther Anil who stole everyone’s heart with her performance in the Mohanlal starrer Drishyam shall no longer be known as little Esther or child actor Esther. She is all set to graduate into a lead heroine. While Malayalis gasped at the news of her appearing as a heroine, Esther is chilled out about it.
She has just completed her 10th standard examination and is awaiting results. Even as she is enjoying her vacation, she is also preparing herself to step into the shoes of a heroine for two Tamil movies. Yes, two! So, is she tense about the expectation audience might have from her? “I am yet to feel that change. It is only when people tell me that I realise that the tag will no longer be ‘child actor’,” she speaks in a mature, matter of fact tone.
After the brilliant success of Drishyam, Esther has been part of three movies. “After Drishyam, I went onto act in its Telugu and Tamil versions and after that I was back in our industry and did Gemini. Now I’ve signed up for Kuzhali and Firefly in Tamil.”
On sharing screen space with Renji Panicker in Gemini, she says, “Performing alongside Renjiettan was my favourite part of the movie. He plays my coach. The movie revolves around how he moulds my character. I play Gemini a character with two sides. Initially, I was tensed about performing with him but the scenes with him are the best.”
On stepping into the shoes of the leading lady for her upcoming Kuzhali, directed by Chera Kalaiyarasan, she has this to say: “So far, I have not done any preparation for the role. I have heard the script. The story is set in a village and revolves around two teenagers who are very studious. Vignesh who played the lead in Kakka Muttai will star alongside me. It is the love story of two innocent children. I play a 11th standard girl. I felt too much preparation might not be needed after listening to the script and I am confident I can pull it off.”
The minute one hears of Tamil movies set in a village backdrop which has demure female leads, characters played by Amala Paul in Mynaa and Lakshmi Menon in Kumki, which were life changing roles for these two actresses, come to mind. On playing such a village lass whose character will have a lot of scope for performance, Esther says, “I was told by the makers of Kuzhali that even though dialogues are less, the actor will have a lot to convey through performance. Moreover, I have watched movies like Kumki and Mynaa, such movies do come out from the Tamil industry quite often and since I have watched these performances I guess I can confidently perform.”
She is also excited about her other Tamil movie. “For Firefly, I have already shot a few parts where I play a 10th standard girl, which again is the female lead. They are currently waiting for me to grow up a bit so that I can play a college girl. This one is a really interesting character, very different from the one I play in Kuzhali.”
As a young actor who has just entered the unkind world of social media, how does she negotiate the inappropriate comments and blatant criticism that is rampant online? “My father manages my Facebook account, so he reads all the comments that are posted there. I have just joined Instagram. I do respond to comments, I also see the not-so-good comments. I had posted a photo wearing my mom’s saree and comments poured in asking, ‘why this little girl has to do this?’ I don’t understand what is wrong with it! There are people who post really bad comments as well. But then I try not to bother. I am prepared to face such things.”
So, has she planned her academic career? “As of now, I have not planned anything. I am definitely not going to take science or maths and I am more of a humanities person,” she laughs.
