Aishwarya Rajesh in a still from ‘Farhana’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In a career spanning over a decade, Aishwarya Rajesh’s current phase is perhaps her best phase. In the last four months, she has had four releases and is gearing up for the fifth, DemonFamous Nelson Venkatesan Farhana, “All these are important films for me; I really liked the stories. Farhana would be one of the most important because I consider it on par Kana And ka paye ranasingam which were intense. Not to take credit from other films, but people have always loved such thrillers,” says Aishwarya Rajesh, who plays a married Muslim woman in the film. Farhana, “The film will give the audience a feel of walking into a Muslim community. This is Farhana’s journey. The first and second parts are opposite to each other and have an exciting element as well.
We draw his attention to the recently released run Baby Run In which despite revolving around the story, it had less screen space. “At the end of the day the role and the content are important. I initially declined the offer but the director (Jiyan Krishnakumar) convinced me with his storytelling. Interestingly, this story happened while I was shooting for Farhana Which is also high in content,” says Aishwarya. Despite being an edge-of-the-seat thriller, Farhana Connected with a strong emotional attachment. Also, we have Selva sir (director turned actor Selvaraghavan) as a surprise package.
A still from ‘Farhana’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
On the low representation of Muslims in our films, Aishwarya says, “I feel they don’t write such characters and I wonder why they don’t. When I accepted this film, I realized that I have not done any Muslim character before, although in my Hindi film Zubeida’s role (Father, 2017). Asked about the importance of representation from minority communities, at a time when films like story of kerala Claiming that women are being converted to Islam and recruited into ISIS, Aishwarya says, “One has to be responsible while filming and to face it when there is a possibility of a dispute in court.” There should be knowledge. as far as Farhana Nelson was very specific about his script as far as; So much so that we’ve discussed what can and cannot be a controversy. When the trailer released and some people tried to raise the issue, my producer and director called me to tell me not to worry, although I wasn’t there in the first place. I see no point in looking at promotional material and jumping to conclusions straight away. If something goes wrong after the release of the film, then we can talk about it.
Aishwarya also states that Nelson was cautious about the representation and even asked her to learn to read Namaz. “A Muslim family came every evening for 10 days to teach me. I was also taught how to prepare for prayer and how to perform purification rituals (wudu). We were keen to ensure that the order of prayers was authentic. I also learned a lot about Islam and the profanity used in the film. Such important roles require this kind of preparation and it is like I was trained in cricket for six months Kana. oru character eh justice panradhu dhaan oru actor oda velai,” The actor says that Joe also feels that actors should be aware of what message the film is giving. “We all can have our own ideology, but we have to be extra careful and responsible as far as films are concerned because that content is going to be consumed by the public.”
A still from ‘Farhana’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In an earlier interview with us, Aishwarya had said that women-oriented films should be given at least a week’s time and this was the reason Kaushalya Krishnamurthy (of Kana Telugu remake) is not doing well at the box office despite receiving positive reviews. “I feel the same with Tamil films. An Ajith sir, Vijay sir film or something like that Ponniyin Selvan He will definitely find an audience. But for short films people check reviews before going to the theatres. Our films really do well only after the second week,” says Aishwarya, who despite doing films with GV Prakash (titled Dear), Jai and Joju George say they get more women-centric films in the pipeline. “Appadi dhaan varudhu, na ena panaradhu (laughs).”
Actors have been vocal about the lack of opportunities for dusky-complexioned actresses. Ask her if it has changed now and she says, “I think it is changing for good.” A popular director recently approached me for a web series and though things didn’t work out, he Narrated the story and wanted to work with me because he liked my work. I think more importance is given to the performances of actors now.”