How Actress Aishwarya Rajesh Had 'Lots Of Fun' Shooting For Malayalam Film Sakhavu

Chennai: Tamil actress Aishwarya Rajesh's entry into Malayalam cinema saw her cast opposite actor Dulquer Salman earlier, in Jomonte Suvisheshangal. She now, awaits the release of Sakhavu, in which she stars opposite Nivin Pauly. Though Jomonte Suvisheshangal has already released, Sakhavu was the first film she signed in Malayalam cinema which released on April 15. In a chat with us, Aishwarya recalls some of the lighter moments that she was part of during her shoot with Nivin Pauly, when she was new to the industry. "I play Janaki, a tea plantation worker, who believes in the communist cause and is a strong feminist. I also play a 65 year old lady in the film. I can't reveal more, without giving away the story," she smiles. Nivin too has two avatars in the film which is directed by National Award winning-director Siddharth Siva.

Talking about a hilarious incident during her initial days of shoot, Aishwarya recalls, "Since Sakhavu was the first film I signed in Malayalam, the local set up was all very new to me. I didn't know Malayalam. So I would chat mostly in Tamil with cameraman George Williams who has shot Tamil movies as well. It was only after a fortnight into the shoot, that my language skills improved. But before that, the unit had a lot of fun at my expense during one particular scene."
 Aishwarya chuckles at the memory as she recounts, "One day, I had to shoot my first really lengthy dialogue. Since I was still picking up the language, I must have mispronounced many words during the long monologue. Halfway into the scene, I suddenly noticed Nivin and the director laughing uncontrollably behind the camera. I knew I must have sounded really funny. Their laughter was so infectious, I told them to stop laughing or else I wouldn't be able to continue. But Nivin just couldn't stop. So, director Siddharth told him to leave the room, till I finished."

But, it didn't end there! Though a laughing Nivin left, Aishwarya found director Siddharth too drowned in mirth. "Soon I also started laughing! Since I couldn't continue my scene, I requested Siddharth also to leave and let me complete it with cameraman Williams. He willingly obliged but soon after that, even cameraman Williams was chuckling too. That scene took 15 takes. By the end of it, the entire unit was in splits."

Aishwarya is all praise for her co-star Nivin, "Though I didn't speak Malayalam fluently, Nivin was very helpful. He would correct me and even conduct dialogue readings with me, before the actual take. His giving cues greatly helped me with my counters which made the actual shoot more real. He is a very chilled out and cool person. He is very cheerful on sets. Contrary to the serious side we see in films, he's very friendly and keeps making people laugh all the time."


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