Aishwarya Lekshmi Interview: Beyond Thug Life and Maaman, being accepted by Tamil cinema, and gaining confidence to face media

It was nearly a year ago when Aishwarya Lekshmi had expressed how she hadn’t gotten her due in Tamil cinema ever since the release of Gatta Kusthi. Now, this year, the actor is back in Tamil cinema with not only the family drama Maaman, which released in mid-May, but also has the upcoming biggie Thug Life, in which she will star in the Kamal Haasan-starrer under Mani Ratnam’s direction. Now, has her stance changed?

“I will change my stance to the fact that I feel accepted now and feel part of Tamil cinema now. But I am a very ambitious person, and it comes from a space where I want to prove. It is embedded in a lot of women I know, and I want to achieve a lot,” replies Aishwarya Lekshmi.

Aishwarya Lekshmi interview:

When the actor first made her way into cinema, she did not know much and did it for the fun of it. Her first film was Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela in 2017 with Nivin Pauly. “After that, I understood that I was not good enough as an actor. I did not understand anything about what was happening on the sets. From there, to my second film, Mayaanadhi, I began to love the process and since then, I have been in search of that little high I get,” Aishwarya Lekshmi adds, as she recalls the exact moment when she tasted it.

“In Mayaanadhi, Appu (her character) gets a call and Syam Pushkaran sir was on the line and told me the dialogues. It was at this time, I understood acting. This is what acting entails and since then I have been searching for that high you get as an actor, and you have a method to the madness. Now I am in the process of telling newer stories. It feels nice to change from what I want from cinema to what story can be told through me.”

‘Maaman spoke about boundaries that need to be set in a family’

Aishwarya Lekshmi was recently seen in the Tamil film Maaman, which talked about the overwhelmingly attached bond between a maternal uncle and his nephew. The film brushed upon the topics such as boundaries and hyper activeness in children that might warrant some professional help. 

Speaking about this, the actor says, “Cinema talks about a particular story and Maaman as a story revolved around a particular family. It touched topics about boundaries, ADHD, and how it was received by the mother who waited 10 years to have a child. When you like something so much, people pointing fingers at it will not be received well. She might be coming from a different story. What I see is the discussion that comes from all this. A film need not be a documentary and tell what to do, it can just start a discussion. It talked about boundaries and how retaining boundaries will help in proper family systems, and that is one thing that we never speak in Tamil cinema.”

She also speaks about how one has to have conversations in society rather than wanting films to spoon-feed everything. “The makers of Maaman wanted the film to be a reflection of what we usually see, and at the end of it, you see how the child is still being upset about things. Maybe that is how that family deals with it, maybe they don’t sort it out immediately, but take time. Changes never happen overnight. It is always slow and subtle,” the Maaman actor explains.

On reuniting with Mani Ratnam for Thug Life:

After doing the duology Ponniyin Selvan, the actor will be reuniting with Mani Ratnam for Thug Life. Aishwarya Lekshmi recalls how she was at Phuket when she got a call from Madras Talkies for the project. “I was like ‘sure’ and I did not want to hear even the story. I know Mani sir would not simply call me, but even if he does, I would not mind. I am paired with Ashok Selvan, and it is a small character. I like the role.”

The actor goes on to speak about how she has found a family in Madras Talkies and there is so much love that makes her feel the space as her safe haven. “There is a beautiful exchange of respect I have with them. They also return that with love. I can be fragile with them if things are not working out, and talk about the creative hunger. It has never been about money for me a while now and ever since then, I have found freedom where I could select films. But when the films don’t come to me, I can discuss with them on how I can go about it, and I get the right advice and guidance from them. I feel it as my safe place, and for a female actor, it is all safer. Everything is on time, right from your money to work. You are treated with love and respect, which we sometimes miss in this field. Mani sir leads the way, and everyone follows it.”

Aishwarya Lekshmi on her fondness for Tourist Family

Even as she is shooting for a couple of projects, the Kaanekkaane actor was able to catch the recent Tamil film Tourist Family and expressed her admiration towards the family drama. “I loved Tourist Family and how it had a resolution for the conflict. When the son points out to his father about cleaning their own plates, I found it beautiful. When we have a conflict, why cannot we beautifully and respectfully solve it rather than throwing the dirt? It is an idealistic situation, but I love the fact that a film could provide you with that idealism,” she says as Aishwarya Lekshmi goes on to point a particular scene where the whole family tries to make their son forget a song associated with his ex-girlfriend.

“I have had similar situations where you associate songs with people…I had the exact same experience when I just had a breakup, and I couldn’t hear Ayushmann Khurrana's song Mitti Di Khushboo. Then, all my friends played it on the car and made it memorable that now I remember my friends.”

‘For the longest, I have been scared on what to say and how media would put it out’

Having said that, Aishwarya Lekshmi also have had fair share of ups and downs as a public personality. She recalls the first film she did, and how being from a non-film background, she had to understand the knack of interacting with media first-hand. “My first film was with Nivin and I knew nothing. He would give me pointers, and he has also learnt the hard way. From that point, I have been trying to learn. It is trial and error. For the longest, I have been scared of what to say and how the media would put it out. So, I was very diplomatic during my earlier interviews. Nothing would come out of my mouth which were mine. It was always filtered and polished. Since I was scared of the media, that was how I used to talk. Then I found my own interviews boring, and how much scrutiny was happening. I was unable to express myself, and there is so much at stake. Later, I found wanting to express myself.”

She talks about her evolving journey, where in Maaman, she found it safe with a lot of love and respect being shared by the team. The Captain actor also talks about the little mix-up of two film dialogues she did at the Kerala press meet of the film, which had become the talk of the town, all thanks to the media. “We had a good laugh, but I did not know it was going to be a problem. People began to troll me and hate me for it. There is a strong reaction to something that might not warrant it. I don’t want to be guarded, but time and again media is trying to tell that you don’t have the right of self-expression. I don’t think I will shut down in such a retaliation. I am in a particular way and find happiness. I am ready to apologise if I have hurt someone. But right now, I am confident I am not hurting anyone, and I would want to express the way I am.”

Concluding the conversation, Aishwarya Lekshmi talks about juggling between doing heavy characters like in films like Ammu and Nizhal Tharum Idham and lesser intense like in Gatta Kusthi and Ponniyin Selvan. “I was shooting a lot of intense films at one point in time; Ammu, Kumari and Nizhal Tharum Idham. I notice that I became sad as a person even as my life was going very well. I took an intentional step to not seek out intense characters. I need to be a happy person to create proper art as a personal choice. I took the decision to do happy characters.”

She takes an example from her recent rewatch of romantic musical La La Land, where one need not be in peak intensity of emotions to be relatable. “There are tiny little things that are relatable. The emotions need to be true always, not always intense. I am really grateful that I could do all these films. Sometimes you need to count your blessings,” concludes Aishwarya Lekshmi as she reveals that she is currently shooting for two web series, which can be called “Interesting and life-like”, respectively.