National Award winning actor Meera Jasmine, whose `Mercury Pookal' has just been released, has her course in cinema clearly charted out.
It was tough to believe that the beautiful girl with large eyes, in traditional mundum neriyathum, waiting in the wings to be honoured by the President, looking visibly tense and almost vulnerable, was actually the one who had beat many capable contenders to win the National Best Actress Award. The year was 2004. `Padam Onnu Oru Vilapam' was the film, T. V. Chandran was the director and Meera Jasmine, the winner. She had been in the field for just a couple of years when the nation's greatest recognition for an actress came her way. "Looking back, even when I was on the stage it was as though I was in a spell. And it's still like a dream," laughs Jasmine.
"Why the award alone?" she goes on. "I'm still to believe that this simple girl from Tiruvalla, has become a known face in cinema now. I feel all that has happened is magic, Maya. Every day I look at the mirror and ask myself, who am I really? Jasmine or Meera?"
The actor was on her way to Hyderabad to shoot for a Telugu film. Just the previous evening she had been to Kerala to receive the Asianet Award for Best Actress for her performance in Sathyan Anthikkad's `Achuvinte Amma.' Meera Jasmine had played Achu and Urvasi, her mother.
Why did she choose a prefix for her name? "Jasmine did not appear to be suitable for cinema. And I have a fascination for Krishna and Meera. So I decided to call myself Meera Jasmine," she says.
About `Mercury Pookal'
Jasmine is a famous face in the South as she works in all the four languages. Her latest film in Tamil, `Mercury Pookal,' has just been released and the actor is already receiving rave reviews for her performance. "I'm so glad. Even people who watch films very rarely have been calling me up to say that they liked `Mercury Pookal.' The best part is that they have noticed even minor matters. It shows the film had kept them absorbed," she observes.
When director S. S. Stanley first came to meet Meera Jasmine for the project, she was not too keen. "After doing a couple of run-of-the-mill roles in Tamil I was fed up. I'd rather sit at home than do routine stuff, I had decided. But as Stanley began narrating the story I got interested. I saw enough scope for me to perform. Moreover I like to work in films involving ordinary characters you see in day-to-day life. `Mercury Pookal' has such a subject. I'm happy I did the film."
From the days of `Suthradharan' (Malayalam), her debut film in which she co-starred with Dileep, till date, Jasmine has matured as a person and as a performer. "I was not at all serious then. `If the film clicks fine, otherwise I would go back to my studies,' I had thought." But the response got her interested in cinema as a career. "However, one thing that hasn't changed is my nervousness. With every film the tension only seems to increase. During the first week of shooting for a new film I'm a bundle of nerves. After which I slowly unwind and settle down. But the next time I'm into a project, the tension is back all over again. So it's not the confidence level that goes higher, but anxiety," she candidly states.
"When I watch old films I actually feel sad. We actors don't get as much a chance to portray strong women characters, as say, Revathi or Sarita did. But slowly the Tamil industry is changing. Importance is being given to heroines too. `Mercury Pookal' is one such," continues Jasmine. `Kasturi Maan' was another film in the recent past that saw some excellent portrayals from both Meera Jasmine and Prasanna, the lead pair.
In other languages
`Mourya' with Puneet Rajkumar, marked Meera's debut in Kannada. Jasmine is doing her fourth film in Telugu now. How does she fit into Telugu filmdom's completely commercial set up? "Not many directors create strong female protagonists like K. Viswanath did. But I select only the ones I find worthwhile," she comments. `Bhadra,' her Telugu hit, was made as `Saravana' in Tamil. Jasmine's recent stills from `Rasathantram' with Mohanlal look interesting. "Yes. I play a young man in the first half of the film," she laughs. It is her first film with the hero. "I find it awesome watching Mohanlal work," she adds. In fact it has been quite a while since she did a Malayalam film. "That's because I wait for good roles. I work in all four languages of the South. So I'm busy in one or the other language. I do a Malayalam film, then a Kannada, followed by a Tamil and so on. Though there might appear to be a gap, I'm constantly shooting," she explains.
Hindi, as of now, is not on her agenda. "I don't think I'll suit Hindi films. I'm a typical south Indian and I prefer it this way. But if I get the kind of challenging parts like say the ones Shabana Azmi does, I'll surely take them up," she hastens to add.
But at any point, has she felt language as being a barrier, especially as she is working in four? Working in the mother tongue may have a slight advantage, you begin and Jasmine stops you. "But eventually it's the emotions and the expressions that matter. They are the same among all of us, so it's no problem," she explains.
And as far as heroes are concerned, she has no reservations. "It's my character and the scope it has that I consider. Otherwise I'm comfortable with all the heroes I work with."
So when is the next Tamil release going to be? "It will be another satisfying project with a reputed director. That's all I wish to reveal at the moment," says Jasmine as she gives a suspenseful smile.
Jasmine turns pensive and philosophical as she says,
" I wish to be a part of good cinema. Earning money alone is not my aim. Playing worthy characters and making a positive impact is what I aspire for. And when I spend most of my time on the sets I should feel happy and satisfied about what I'm doing there. That's why I am very choosy."
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