The Power of Two

Working with Urvashi chechi is like going to a university for life and acting,” says Parvathy Thiruvothu, the veteran actor’s co-star in the compelling Ullozhukku, which is creating waves at the box office in Kerala. In the film directed by debut feature director, Christo Tomy, Urvashi plays a mother-in-law with a secret, locked in an uncomfortable and silent duel of wills with her daughter-in-law played by Parvathy. As the two discover each other’s lies, they go from silent rage to teary forgiveness. Each is locked in her own private hell, and each builds a fantasy alternative life she feels she can escape to. But pain has a way of enduring. And women have a way of coping with it, the undercurrent of sentiment that threatens to drown them could also be their lifeline.

“I don’t use glycerine when I cry and this film looked as if it was overflowing with emotion. Every time Christo called me, I told him, ‘I cannot do this.’ Please don’t ask me. This is too much tension. Please give me a smart, pleasant role. Finally, four years after he first called me, I said, ‘Yes.’ It wasn’t an easy shoot, especial­ly for women there are a lot of personal issues. We were in that house for 42 days, shooting in one schedule, constantly navigating the water and our roles. But now the world has seen it, and likes it, I am happy,” says Urvashi.

Urvashi, now 55, started acting as a heroine when she was just 13 in Mundhanai Mudichu (a 1983 Tamil comedy, directed by K Bhagyaraj) and has over four decades of performance under her belt. From the thriller Andha Oru Nimidam in 1985 with Kamal Haasan to the dramatic Thanthram with Mammootty in 1988, from the domestic-drama Mithunam with Mohanlal in 1993 to even a Hindi film with Jeetendra, a 1987 political thriller called New Delhi, she has done it all. “I did five or six films as a baby artist before becoming a full-fledged heroine but I never wanted to act. I was studying in Chennai in Corporation Higher Secondary School, Kodambak­kam, popularly known as Cinema School, because every star’s child went there. Once I became a heroine I had to drop out of school. My entire family was involved in the arts but when I started in the profession I was interested only in directing and writing,” she says.

It was only around her 100th film as an actor that Urvashi realised that acting was god’s gift to her. “So many people wanted to be in the movies, and here I was by god’s grace. After that I decided this was my profession, my breath, the source of my courage,” she adds, with the calmness and serenity of someone who has 730 films to her credit.

Parvathy, 36, whose career is slowly gathering range, is full of praise for Urvashi, especially for her commitment. Parvathy says, “She loves her work; respects the craft even more. She doesn’t use any particular methodology. From what I witnessed and derived from when we were in scenes together, it’s her love for life and people that probably allows her to mould and shapeshift so well. She truly is in awe of people around her. I hope to keep this sense of awe and won­der in my life. Apart from this, I learned from her that the more relaxed we are, the deeper we get to dive into the recess­es of our mind and bring out the most incredible moments for the characters.”

Indeed, Urvashi never looks at the monitor to check a scene she has just performed. “I’m not conscious of my acting. I do what I feel when the director says ‘action’. If he says, ‘It is fine,’ then it is so. Nowadays all the actors are always looking at the monitor to check how they perform.”

This purity of intent has allowed Urvashi to play intense roles in a career studded with delightful comic performances but she chooses them very carefully. “She says it’s purely due to how much she gets affected by them. So I’d say she’s always chosen amazing well-deserved roles but it’s only now that she is getting the recognition she truly deserves. I feel it’s just the begin­ning,” says Parvathy.

There is much to learn from her, says Parvathy. “She lets absolutely nothing take her away from her art. That in itself is one of the biggest inspirations I feel our generation continues to take from her. Filmmaking changed, writing changed, the way we consume art changed and definitions of success changed yet here she is. I take a lot of strength and hope from her.”

As she should, Parvathy has fought her own battles, calling out misogyny within and outside the film industry. Not only was she part of the women’s combine against misogyny in Malayalam cinema with the Women in Cinema Collective formed in 2017, she was also one of the first to call out the open feminist message of Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh. The former got her rape and death threats on Twitter, now X, against which she went to the police. She realised quite early on that it was not just about her but about the issue, but it took a physical and psychological toll on her.

Parvathy has established her pan-In­dia credibility despite speaking her mind often, not something any film industry takes to kindly. She has made landmark movies in several lan­guages, from Uyare in Malayalam (2019), Maryan in Tamil (2013), Qarib Qarib Singlle in Hindi (2017) and now key roles in several web series, from Kadak Singh in Hindi to Dhootha in Telugu.

Parvathy is also nearly always the top choice for any “heroine-oriented” drama in Malayalam. So naturally she was the first choice for Christo Tomy when he thought of Ullozhukku. She says, “ Christo’s first narration had me spell­bound. At the time I thought it’s because I found a connect to it. And I probably told him that. Later on, it became clear that it’s Anju in all her bare elements that scared me. I felt I won’t be able to do this part well. I am so happy Christo checked with me again and I gave it another read (about two years later) and it still took another year for me to fully commit. What changed? It was proba­bly my confidence level. The script was always very striking in its honesty.”

Urvashi conjures up the memory of many movies, says Parvathy. “There are many, of course. Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu (1988), Thalayana Manthram (1990), Mithunam (1993), Malootty (1990). Those characters didn’t seem fictional at all! They were so real. I’d like to specially mention her comic genius in Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990). The scene where she is told by Kamal Haasan’s char­acter that she has misunderstood they are getting married. Her vulnerability in Malootty. There is a song in this movie titled ‘Mounathin Idanazhiyil’, how she portrays a woman so in love with her husband, it is so tender,” she says.

It is incredibly inspiring how she goes from one end of the spectrum to another, says Parvathy. “Recently though, it’s her performance in J Baby that caught me by my throat (a 2024 Tamil movie where she plays an inter­fering busybody whose disappearance launches a nationwide hunt for her by her sons). If I get to do half her range, nay; quarter her range I’d call myself lucky!” Urvashi has kind words for Parvathy too, but says she has told her not to do only serious roles. “She has promised me she will do a variety of roles now,” adds Urvashi, who returned to cinema with Achuvinte Amma in 2005 after a six-year gap. “I loved that film,” she says, of the movie which delineated a woman’s relationship with her daughter as well as her own struggle for independence.

Much like the real-life Urvashi, her character was a trouper, who has seen much trauma in her personal life with a well-publicised divorce and custody battle for her daughter but also many awards for a brilliant career. And who loves what she does, never mind the travel, the press meets, the bad throat, and pesky journalists asking her the same questions. Her answer to Malayalam movies being male dominated is simple: “Which film industry isn’t? The idea is to enjoy the roles that come your way.”

For Parvathy, Anju in Ullozhukku is yet another character who breaks down what the actor calls the strong-weak binary. “I don’t look at my characters like that,” she says. Anju is constantly changing shape, taking unexpected deci­sions, because that is how people are. And for Parvathy, nothing is more important than mirroring that truth.

cinemaMalayalamParvathy ThiruvothuUllozhukkuUrvashi