Nimisha Sajayan
(Chola):
When an adolescent Janaki elopes
with her teenage lover with the help of the
latter’s boss, she has no inkling of what’s
in store for her. When in an ugly turn of
events Janaki finds herself assaulted by the
man whom the young couple initially
considered their saviour, she is devastated.
Soon, Janaki finds herself helpless and
enslaved. Nimisha not only looks the part of
a naïve adolescent in the first throes of
love, but also internalises Janaki to such
visceral levels that her trauma is
heartbreaking to sit through.
Aishwarya Lekshmi
(Mayanadhi):
Appu is an aspiring actor and model and her
love for Mathan is all-consuming. There are
times when they go long periods without
seeing or calling each other, but their love
is so volatile and deep that each reunion
makes it seem like they have never been
apart. When her mother and friends push her
around, it is Mathan to whom she vents. She
shoos him away, yet he comes back begging
for forgiveness. Perhaps it was Aishwarya’s
newness and pliability that helped her essay
Appu with such honesty and nuance. The
frustrations of an aspiring actor, the
conflicts of a young lover, and her daily
battles with her own family and friends were
all compellingly brought out by Aishwarya.
Grace Antony
(Oru Halal Love
Story):
What gives Grace Antony an edge over her
contemporaries has to be her superb comic
timing. It’s something she has proved right
from her first film (Kumbalangi
Nights). Suhra is a young Muslim
wife who is battling unresolved issues with
her street play actor husband. When they are
forced to play an onscreen couple in a Halal
film, due to the intervention of elders, the
set turns out to be the site to iron out
their differences. Grace plays Suhra with a
restrained sense of comedy, her facial
expressions reflecting her conflicting
thoughts and emotions. Look out for the
scene in which she talks about her husband’s
deception in front of their acting coach.
Anna Ben
(Helen):
There is something eminently
relatable about Anna Ben — it’s perhaps her
beguiling grin or the ease with which she
slips into characters who battle everyday
issues. She plays the titular Helen, a young
nursing graduate who also moonlights as a
fast-food eatery worker. Though a major
portion of this survival thriller revolves
around Helen’s desperate attempts to stay
alive inside a cold storage (and Anna is
terrific there), it is in scenes involving
her widowed father that she is iridescent.
Their close bond is momentarily dented when
he discovers her love affair, leaving Helen
wracked with guilt. The regret, overwhelming
love, and desperation to bring things back
to how they were between them, are all
subtly etched by Anna.
Rajisha Vijayan
(Stand
Up):
Rajisha was the surprise package in her
debut film, Anuraga Karikkin
Vellam, as a young, temperamental
Eli whose love for her boyfriend borders on
the annoying. Rajisha lent a freshness to
Eli, selling the unpleasant but earnest
character who eventually evolves into a
mature individual. But in Stand Up,
in which she plays the survivor of a sexual
assault, you witness just how much Rajisha
has evolved from the time of her debut.
After Diya is assaulted by her ex, both
families (his and hers) attempt to hush it
up, trying to force a marriage. The
narrative follows the aftermath of the
assault and how it weighs on Diya. An
otherwise middling film, Stand Up
is saved by Rajisha’s riveting,
heartbreaking act.
Darshana Rajendran
(CU
Soon):
Written, directed, shot and edited by Mahesh
Narayanan, all within the constraints of the
pandemic, CU Soon has Darshana
playing a victim of human trafficking in
Dubai. What begins as a romance between two
strangers online escalates into a harrowing
tale of girls from poor families being
tricked into sex rackets in the UAE with the
promise of jobs. Those portions, while
brilliantly staged, are also sensitively
done. Some of the scenes that have Darshana
breaking down as she explains her
predicament are gut churning. The actor is
outstanding, investing thoroughly in the
character’s graph.
Anaswara Rajan
(Super
Sharanya):
She gives a modern spin to the
Amminis (Aranyakam) and Janakis
(Ennu Swantham Janakikutty) of the
world. But her Sharanya is more sorted and
doesn’t necessarily live inside a bubble.
Still, she comes with all the paraphernalia
attached to that age — so she allows herself
to be bullied by the college’s ‘Arjun
Reddy’, has shaky self-esteem, a conflicting
relationship with her conservative mother,
and only shows her temperamental side to her
boyfriend. Basically, Sharanya is every inch
a manifestation of today’s teenagers.
Anaswara is such a natural that you can only
associate her with Sharanya after that
spontaneous act.
***
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