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Asha Sharath, a Dubai actress star in South India

By FnF Desk | PUBLISHED: 05, Jul 2015, 13:44 pm IST | UPDATED: 05, Jul 2015, 13:44 pm IST

Asha Sharath, a Dubai actress star in South India It took the vision of a director like Jeethu Joseph to transform the graceful dancer Asha Sharath into a tough cop in Drishyam, the much-acclaimed Malayalam film that’s also being remade in Bollywood.

Sharath’s police officer, Geetha Prabhakar, was more than an ordinary cop. The mother, who agonised over her missing teenaged son, did not hesitate to use her authority to question a little girl for leads in her son’s investigation.

Her convincing performance that oscillated between an arrogant police officer and a vulnerable mother earned plaudits from critics and viewers, the icing on the cake being a compliment from the late Tamil director K. Balachander.

Another compliment came from IPS (Indian Police Service) officer Rishi Raj Singh, who called her after watching Drishyam.

“He asked me if I was a real cop,” said Sharath.

“He felt that I carried off the role like a real officer.”

After reprising the same role in the Kannada remake of Drishyam (opposite Prabhu Ganesan), Sharath returns as an IPS officer in the Tamil remake, Papanasam.

Directed again by Jeethu Joseph, she is paired opposite Bollywood actor-director Anant Mahadevan and pitted against south Indian legend Kamal Haasan.

Despite playing the same character twice, Sharath said that it was like a new role every time she wore the khaki police uniform.

Sharath grew up learning dance from her mother Kalamandalam Sumathy and never contemplated working in films until offers came in after she bagged the Best Dancer of India 1992 at the All India Varsity Youth Festival.

“My parents were not keen on films so I had to decline them,” said Sharath who manages Kairali Kalakendram, a dance and arts centre in Dubai, affiliated to London Trinity College.

But destiny had other plans. Following her marriage, Sharath was encouraged to start working in television programmes and began winning awards.

In 2012, she made her start in films with Friday, in Malayalam. Her second film was Karmayodha, opposite Kerala icon Mohanlal.

It was Mohanlal who briefed her on her role as IPS Geetha.

“Lal ettan (brother Lal, a respectful reference to Mohanlal) mentioned that Jeethu would be discussing a script with me. After reading the script, I could not sleep that night thinking about this mother who loses her only son,” recalled this mother of two teenaged daughters.

For someone who had never worn trousers in her life, Sharath was sceptical about the attire required for her role. Jeethu’s assurance gave her the confidence to try it out.

“There is a magical power in the uniform,” says Sharath. “Siddique sir and Lal ettan were encouraging too. Playing male characters, like that of Rama and Dushasan in dance concerts, helped me get into the skin of a cop. The gait and mannerisms came to me naturally.”

Papanasam also brought new fears as she acted alongside another icon like Haasan.

For one of the lines, her character had to say to Haasan ‘Ennada nanachindu irrukkai, police muttalaa? (What do you think, man, we police are fools?).

“I just could not address him as ennada. I preferred saying ennaiya, (a more respectful way) but Kamal sir insisted on ennada.

Learning Tamil dialogues was another hurdle this Malayali had to deal with.

“For one scene I was given seven pages of lines which had to be delivered in one shot and with the right emotions. Writer Sukka helped me with the pronunciation.”

Impressed with her, Haasan suggested she dub in Tamil for Papanasam. He also signed her up for his next film, Thoongavanam, as his on-screen pair.

Shuttling between the UAE and India, Sharath credits her husband, T.V. Sharath, and her two daughters for her success.

“My biggest fan is my mother-in-law, who will not miss my films,” she says,

She’s just signed two Malayalam films, one with Prithviraj and the other opposite Jayaram.

The dance school in Dubai remains her first priority though. And she has plans of introducing a course for housewives soon.

“It will give women an opportunity to reconnect with their passions, which is often put aside for family’s sake.”  # By Mythily Ramachandran, Gulf News