My thought process is in Malayalam. So, every time I have to work outside Malayalam, the process is a little stressful. I have to translate my Malayalam thoughts into English and back to Tamil.
Coming from the Malayalam sets, when I went to Telugu, people told me that I wasn't acting and that it felt dead. It was very subtle in Malayalam, while it is slightly dramatic in Telugu. It is quite fascinating to understand what each industry expects of you and work according to that.
I was really looking forward to the release of 'Villain.' I put in a lot of hard work, and I am glad people are noticing basic things - like how I synced perfectly with the Malayalam dialogues or that I came across as a Malayalam girl - makes me feel wonderful.
Malayalam industry is pretty awesome, and I will definitely do a movie in Malayalam. There are some great directors over there.
In Malayalam, I can improvise, and acting is easy because I think in Malayalam, but for 'Velaikkaran,' I had to prepare for a role, which is a first for me.
My place is cemented in Malayalam films. Malayalam is not my language and it felt alien to me. But for them, I am someone from Karnataka who could deliver.
It's the ultimate goal every day you wake up, to be happy. At the end of the week, you want to be happy. Happy in love, happy in work, happy in life, happy with yourself. It's pretty simple.
When I emerged as a hero, there were times I had continuous hits in Malayalam. I also tasted success as a supporting actor in other languages. But there was a collective effort from a group in the Malayalam film industry to flush me out, which affected my career.
I've always wanted to work in the Malayalam industry.
I respect Malayalam films the same way I respect Bengali films. I think Malayalam films have not compromised on the essence and have kept their own statement and are coming up with very good themes.
If you're talking about industry, I've never restricted myself to Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, or Kannada. Whichever the language is, from Swahili to Marathi or Bhojpuri to Bengali, I would be happy to do it.
I will like to work with the best of the actors in Malayalam someday in future.
After all my hard work, I ventured into Bollywood with 'Traffic,' which is a remake of a Malayalam movie.
The biggest challenge Malayalam cinema faces is territorial. We operate within a small territory in Kerala, and the Malayalam diaspora across the world in comparative terms is quite small. But we have world-class talent in terms of technicians, actors, and writers.
I am quite content with my work in Malayalam cinema, and so there was never any reason to look outside for opportunities.
Happiness is a critical factor for work, and work is a critical factor for happiness. In one of those life-isn't-fair results, it turns out that the happy outperform the less happy. Happy people work more hours each week - and they work more in their free time, too.