The girl next door

Expectations were high for the ‘Palunku’ girl, Lakshmi Sarma, to perform for the movie

“Keep your heart pure, conceive your own dreams

Respect your fellow man, the earth and the trees...”

These lyrics from the King Klick album ‘Positive Vibes’ would describe Lakshmi Sarma the best. The Palunku girl comes across as an optimistic, contented, girl next door. As prelude to the conversation, she hums an old Malayalam number.

“‘Oru Madhura Kinavin lahariyilengo...,’ Remember Rahman and Sobhana dancing to it? I loved it. I heard this number when I came down to Guruvayur for a visit. I was in the 10th standard then. I went back to Vijayawada and asked some of my Malayali friends to get me that song ,” says Lakshmi.

That was Lakshmi Sarma’s first encounter with Malayalam Cinema. The second one was to come years later, in 2006. “I was doing a bit of modelling, ballets and television once I finished college. By then, we had moved to Hyderabad. I did a couple of Telugu films too. I got a call from a model co-ordinator in Chennai asking me to audition for a Hariharan movie. I did, but did not get through. Later when Blessy was casting for ‘Thanmatra,’ he spotted me from those tapes and offered me Meera Vasudev’s role. I could not take it up then, as I was engaged with my ballets. He called me again for ‘Palunku.”

Though a bit nervous about working in an unknown language, Lakshmi says she managed with the help of the crew. “The director, cinematographer and the rest of the cast were very patient with me. I had to put in extra effort because ‘Palunku’ was different from the films I had worked on. High expectations were pinned since it was a Blessy-Mammootty film. Obviously you have to keep up to the mark. Or at least try not to go below that.”

Lakshmi regards ‘Palunku’ as a special film not only because it fetched her awards, but also because it gave her a chance to meet her all-time favourite hero, Mammooty.

“My brother and I had many Malayali friends. Some of Mammooka’s super hit movies like ‘Dalapathy’ were dubbed into Telugu. He has also done an excellent Telugu movie called ‘Swathi Kiranam.”

Says Lakshmi who is back in Malayalam movies with M. A. Nishad’s ‘Nagaram,’ where she plays an Anganvadi teacher, “I liked the theme of ‘Nagaram.’ It is set in Sivaramapuram - a village where urban waste is dumped. The Government does not provide a proper waste management system. As a result, the natives contract unknown diseases. ‘Nagaram’ is about their fight for the issue. My character progresses from a naive villager to a social activist.”

Although not a hardcore activist, Lakshmi says she too gets agitated with the system at times. “I cannot stand injustice. I do protest, in my own way. I may not be able to change the world overnight, but I will do my bit towards it. I would like to be part of such issue-based films.”

Lakshmi adds that she prefers to work in Malayalam - the only industry where “her kind of roles happen.”

“My colleagues in Telugu used to tell me that I should work in Malayalam. They said that my looks and aptitude matched the Malayali sensibilities. Chiranjeevi Sir once told me that I resemble Srividya. “If Srividya had a daughter, she would look like you,” he said. I know I am no where near her, but it was the most flattering compliment I ever got...”