As someone who is confident and bold in real life, Akshara Haasan forays into the world of the unknown with her latest film Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu. Directed by Raja Ramamurthy, the film was released on Amazon Prime Video. In the movie, Akshara takes on the role of Pavithra, a timid young adult who belongs to a conservative, orthodox family where subjects like female desires and premarital sex is a taboo and deals with a few strict family members.
While the tale might be familiar to many, Akshara tells News18 that the character she portrays in the movie is poles apart from her real-life personality, thus throwing herself outside her comfort zone. “The character is poles apart from who I am as a person and the way I prepared is the day I heard the script, it was quite clear as to what Raja sir wanted because he wrote the script with extreme focus and vision of what he wanted. So it was very easy for me to prepare for the role because the thought was there on the pages. We had a lot of rehearsals as well so that I could be on point and stay true to the character. Those rehearsals and discussions on sets really helped a lot along with the clear vision of what Raja sir wanted through the character of the film,” she said.
Not only does the movie offer her a chance to take on a different character, but it also presents her with an opportunity to experiment with comedy. Akshara confessed it was an ‘unfamiliar territory’ for her but she would always bounce ideas off and take in feedback from her director to improve her comic timing. Besides that, Akshara also had a few references that she was falling back on. One such reference was the French film, Amelie. “There were a few references that Raja sir gave me actually, Amelie being one character. I saw other comedians for timing as well but Amelie helped set the mood,” Akshara revealed.
Asked if, in real life, Akshara was met with judgements for discussing taboo subjects or even hesitated to ask for sanitary napkins, Akshara confessed, “Initially, I did it with sanitary napkins, I was hesitant to go up and ask and I’m like ‘why?’ and I realised that it is a normal biological process for every woman. It helps you be healthier, so why do I have to feel awkward about it? So there was that moment where I did face it and I’m like okay, cool, maybe I should just stop being awkward about it and behave normal, and maybe that’s how I can make a change.”
While the character and approach towards the film were different, Akshara found a sense of familiarity on the sets in the form of Usha Uthup. The veteran singer plays her grandmother in the movie. While this was the first time Akshara and Usha were working together, the singer has known Akshara’s father, actor Kamal Haasan and the family for many years.
“Through the entire process, the entire team became a family. Initially there was slight intimidation because Usha ji being who she is in her own right, a legend, is still so warm, which made everything a lot more normal and homelike. She knows my dad really well and she’s a family friend and we do go back (in time) so there was this sense of familiarity which helped as well,” Akshara said.
While work was the agenda every day on the sets, Akshara revealed that the team had their share of memorable moments. With a musical legend like Usha on sets, there was bound to be music. Akshara revealed that the team would get together for a jamming session with Usha which made for one of many beautiful memories. Besides that, Akshara revealed that she also played many pranks on the sets.
“I was constantly pulling a prank on someone or the other. I think it’s just like an instinct of mine of trying to be part of the team and make it lively in my own ways possible. So I guess in that way when we weren’t shooting a scene, I would pull pranks on someone or the other so there were a lot of moments to look back at,” she said, confessing she once pranked her co-star into reshooting a scene despite knowing that the scene was fine.
Akshara went on to reveal that as kids, she and her sister Shruti Haasan were mischievous. “I was more of the prankster and mischievous one and she was the older sibling and always trying to tell me not to play pranks but we would end up playing pranks and scaring each other,” she recalled.
Sharing one such incident, Akshara said that she and Shruti once decided to cycle to a church that was a few kilometers away from their house without informing their parents which landed them in trouble. “I remember once we randomly cycled off to a church, and she’s like ‘Hey Akshara, I want to try doing doubles’ (Two people seated on the same cycle) so I was on board. We pushed off to this church in Mylapore (Chennai) and we didn’t tell our parents. When we returned, they were like ‘Where were you both? We were worried,'” she revealed.
Looking at the future, Akshara revealed that she has two projects in the pipeline, one in Hindi and one in Telugu.
