Revathi discusses Bhoothakalam, renaissance of Malayalam cinema, and industry's ageism debate

Revathi is much more than just a Tamil-Malayalam actress. Her influence as an actor, director and a woman of substance spreads far wider than her home ground. Now being seen as a traumatised mother in the Malayalam film Bhoothakalam on SonyLIV, Revathi takes time off from directing Kajol to speak to Subhash K Jha

It’s so good to finally talk to you.

I am so sorry about the delay. I’ve just started shooting a new film Salaam Venky with Kajol in the lead in Pune.

I haven’t heard of it!

You haven’t heard of it because we haven’t announced ita s yet.I can’t tell you much about it right now.

Never mind. I am more interested in talking about your performance in Bhoothakalam as a mother grappling with bereavement and tragedy.

I am glad you liked it. Though categorised as horror there’s a lot more going on in there. There are so many layers. The emotional turmoil and the turmoil in the world outside my character are not easy to come by for actresses in our cinema.

Is it becoming increasingly difficult to get roles that still inspire you?

Oh yes, very difficult. When the director of Bhoothakalam (Rahul Sadasivan)came to me with this character more than a year ago—he came to me even before the production was put together and I was practically his first choice—I was completely taken up. It was only after he spoke to me that he got the production in place.

Do you agree that there is a whole renaissance happening in Malayalam cinema?

I agree. In-between somewhere Malayalam cinema lost its way when it became hero-oriented and male-centric. I think Malayalam cinema has returned to its roots created by Adoor Gopalkrishnan and G Aravindan.

Do you think the OTT platform helped in this renaissance?

I don’t think the format matters. It is the content. It can be anywhere.

What really happened to restore Malayalam cinema to its roots is the new generation of directors who began making simple sincere films. That really helped. S. Bharathan made one of his classics in just 18 days. After that, it became a norm to make films in a limited time and budget which were not star-based.

Have you made Malayalam and Tamil cinema your homeground?

Not really. I did one Malayalam film Molly Aunty Rocks in 2012. Then I did Virus  in 2019 and now Bhoothakalam. So it’s three Malayalam films in ten years which isn’t that much. In Tamil, I’ve done only one film Power Pandi in ten years, and two comedy films with Parbhudheva and Jyotika.

Did you like getting away from your serious image?

I enjoyed doing the comedy thoroughly. But these two were totally slapstick. In future, if I do comedy I’d like it to be slightly more relevant, like Meryl Streep’s Mamma Mia. Way back in 1992 I had done a comedy with Priyadarshan called Muskurahat which I really enjoyed.

But I prefer you in roles with gravitas, like the one you did recently with Vijay Sethupathi in Navarasa ?

Oh, that was a fabulous experience . It was just three days’ work. But the homework had to be watertight. I had so many discussion with my director Bejoy Nambiar.

What I respected in this story was the respect it had for silences. Everyone talks too much in our films?

(laughs) ) agree. Dialogue writing is soooo important in our cinema.

Salman, your co-star from Love is still romancing younger heroines, while you have moved on to mother’s roles. Does that infuriate or amuse you?

Nothing like that. Each actor handles the career in different ways. Whether we like it or not male actors don’t age on screen. Women do age. There’s just a handful of roles for a few actresses.

The heroines for the heroes get younger and younger?

That is the male fantasy, isn’t it?

In the West, we have Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, wagairah wagairah

There is no wagairah wagairah, Subhash! When I meet other actresses my age they say the same thing. No roles! Meryl Streep does one film in four years. She too complains about the lack of content for women. By the way, she too is tired of her serious image and wants to do fun roles.

Are you content with the volume of work?

See, at this stage of my life, I want to give time to my family, my daughter who is 9. When I am shooting my parents look after her. I am quite happy with the volume of work, though I’d have like to get better-written roles. But I am happy with the work I am doing.

You were supposed to direct a remake of Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth?

Yes. But that project did not fall into place with the right actors. I’ve postponed it for now. We are actually doing a take on the subject, an idea that remained unexplored in the original. I didn’t want to do a faithful remake. I wanted to take the characters in a different direction.

Where will you find Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil?

I am not looking for them. Because I know I won’t find them. By the way, I played Shabana’s role in Balu Mahendra’s Marapudiyam, the Tamil version of Arth.

You also play a pivotal role with Adivi Sesh in Major?

I play the martyr’s mother. It’s very tough to play a real-life character. . Here the amazing thing was, the director and writer did not want me to meet the real character. But director Sashi Kiran Tikka knew exactly what he wanted me to do. Major is my next release. I am also doing an 8-episode series with Netflix called Tooth Pari. And before you ask I don’t play the title role.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He’s been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.

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