Ask Sobha Ashwin her motto in life and pat comes the reply, “You have only one life and and so do whatever you want to do!” The pretty lady is not saying that for mere effect; she has put into practice what she believes in. Sobha runs a successful fashion handloom enterprise in the capital city, has run the marathon, travelled solo to far-flung corners of India, is a social worker who has gone the extra mile for children and is also a show stopper for fashion shows not to mention a socialite.
She has now added one more feather to her already crowded cap — that of an actor. Sobha has acted in a small role in the Sathyan Anthikad directed Dulquer Salmaan starrer Jomonte Suvisheshangal. This is not the first time that Sobha has faced the camera — she has been a part of the music video Masala Coffee and has also anchored a cookery show. But this experience, she says, was different: “Masala Coffee was done with friends and was more of a break and three days of fun. The cookery show had me saying spontaneous dialogues but acting in films is a different ball game. I had to mouth scripted dialogues and I was worried if I could pull it off.” But the people who brought her on board gave her the encouragement.
Sobha with Dulquer Salmaan
It was assistant director Akhil Sathyan (son of Sathyan Anthikad) who suggested that Sobha try her hand at acting. Sobha had been getting offers since childhood which she had rejected because she never thought she could act! But this was a Sathyan Anthikad film! She says, “I thought it would be a serious subject and though I was offered a sister role which was meatier I decided not to take the risk. Later Akhil called mentioning that there was a small role with three dialogues that he thought I could do. He also added that the combination scenes would be with Dulquer Salmaan and Mukesh. Acting with these stars was not a problem but the thought of rendering dialogues gave me sleepless nights!”
Sobha’s scenes were canned in a big stadium in Thrissur where to her surprise, she saw Lal Jose and two other prominent scriptwriters present on the sets. She continues, “My first dialogues were with Dulquer and it was okayed in the first take. I guess the advice of Sathyan sir and Lal Jose ‘to not act and just behave worked’.” She recalls Mukesh and Dulquer as being very supportive and patient with her mistakes. A non commercial film Minnaminungu in which she played an Indian- Canadian lady working in an NGO was something she enjoyed doing. She sums up, “I am not desperate to act but I want to grab whatever opportunities life throws.”
