Rima Kallingal on why she said yes to Lalanna's Song, on finally working face-to-face with Parvathy Thiruvothu and more | Exclusive

Rima Kallingal, who entered the Malayalam industry in 2009 with Shyamaprasad’s Ritu, has dabbled in various types of cinema, that too in varied roles. From starring alongside Fahadh Faasil in 22 Female Kottayam to being an associate producer in Mayaanadi, Rima has been a part of Malayalam cinema’s journey. The actress recently featured in Megha Ramaswamy’s short film Lalanna's Song along with Parvathy Thiruvothu. In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, Rima talks about why she said yes to Lalanna's Song, finally working face-to-face with Parvathy Thiruvothu and more…

How did you approach your role of Miriam in Lalanna's Song?

Once you start working with Megha, she completely has the reins to your character, and how she takes the narrative forward. I was completely confident about the clarity that Megha had about her film, then it is an easy ride for the actor because I could completely give in myself, trust her and be ready to imbibe whatever she wanted from me. The pleasure of working with Megha is the clear inputs you get from her when you are on set, and to any question I had regarding Miriam because it is so layered. I had so many doubts while reading the script. And Megha just swooped in and held our hands throughout the process.

What made you say yes to the project?

The genre of this was so completely new for me. Working with someone like Megha is something I wanted to experience. She had a very different way of looking at the subjects, what she wanted to communicate through her film, how she wanted to communicate and how she wanted the audience to feel - all of that was very different from the kind of movies I had done back in Kerala and the kind of storytelling that I was a part of. It came to me at a time when I wanted to cut off from reality and figure out being in another world, and it really didn’t have any logic to it. It was so concentrated on the emotions of the characters. Everything else was layered around that. I had never worked with Parvathy before, so it is very interesting for me to work face-to-face with her. I have done City of God, Virus, where we both are on the cast, but we didn't even have a scene opposite where we interacted. So that was also very interesting when I came on board this project.

What is your biggest takeaway from Lalanna's Song?

It was not a takeaway but this whole thing cemented after I did this short film because it does really talk about the horrors of the everyday slights you get or the way society looks at you because of whatever identities you have owned in this lifetime. All these comments and conversations in our daily lives, and how they affect us. How you save it inside your bodies, minds. It is something that I have always felt very deeply about. It has always helped me to try and be kinder, and more sensitive in my day-to-day-life as an artist and a human being. I think this movie does explore that very deeply, and it felt like a validation to all these thoughts I had inside me and kind of really helped me at that point of time in my journey. Thanks to Megha for that.

You were also a part of Anjali Menon’s Backstage, along with Padmapriya, that also premiered on WAVES recently. Your experience of collaborating on Backstage, which was part of the anthology series

Working with Anjali has been on my bucket list for quite some time. I was so happy when she called me and said I will send you the script. But I was like ‘no, I just want to say yes right away’ because I really do trust her to have a completely fleshed-out character for me, whatever the movie is. When I say me, I mean any actor, who is a part of her film. She makes sure that every character has a graph, every one has a closure. She really loves her characters because she is a writer. I know how much effort she puts into each one of her characters, so I would blindly say yes to her. I was very sure that she would have something very meaty for me to bite into.

And Padmapirya, I am a huge Padmapriya fan from the time I had seen her first, when I was not an actor and she had started acting. In movies like Vadakkumnadhan and Kaazhcha, she has done phenomenal work, sharing screen space with her was again a dream come true for me. I felt so good collaborating with these wonderful artistes.

Backstage and Lalanna’s Song belong to the short format with less than 1-hour duration. Does the format have an impact or influence your performance as an actor?

For me, no! I could be doing an Instagram reel, dancing on stage or performing for my friends, doing the largest blockbuster film or doing completely experimental stuff with a newcomer, it doesn’t matter. As a performer, I find great joy, if my art communicates with even one person out there. And I really revel in the process, the preparation, getting into another person’s mind frame and another world I create for that particular character and being present in that moment when delivering what you prepped for it and what spontaneously happens in spite of those preparations. All of that is magical. I look forward to it, I have so much gratitude for what I get to do on a daily basis. The format has absolutely no value in the scheme of things.

Both Backstage and Lalanna’s Song have women filmmakers. How different is it when you collaborate with women filmmakers and a female-led cast?

I love all the directors I have worked with, maybe I don’t love a few (laughs). I absolutely loved working with Anjali, Megha. I also worked with Vijayeta Kumar on the short film Sunny Side Up and I really do kind of get why men work with other men, because as a woman working with a woman, it instantly feels relaxed. I can’t really explain why, it just feels so more at ease. Your nervous system just calms down. Some kind of a safety net, your guards come down. So much more of a peaceful space for me. It is a very individual statement, it comes from very similar experiences, collective experiences of women… we have at some level gone through what we are trying to portray.

Apart from acting, you are also associated with projects such as Mayaanadi and Neelavelicham as associate and co-producer. How important it is to have women in a producer’s role? Lalanna’s Song director Megha had also spoken about women needing to prove themselves to their male counterparts

I think women have to be a part of the whole filmmaking process for any kind of change to happen. For all of our collective experiences, emotions, and perspectives to be truly reflected in the strongest art medium in the 21st century, we should have people from all genders, from all classes to be present and holding their experiences, ready to be vulnerable. Cinema needs to get to a safe enough space to be vulnerable, safe enough to be included. Not about just women being able to express, it is more about a space to be vulnerable to tell their stories. For that I want to see more women writers, producers, and cinematographers. It is so important that women are part of the creation stage. Right now, we see stylists, make-up artists and actors. But the technical side of it is largely elusive even today. We really need to push for that and make the cinema industry a safe enough place for all kinds of people to come in and work.