Actor Keerthy Suresh says that her character, Rhythm, in the web film, Penguin, is authentic and could strike a chord with the audience through the angst of motherhood. By Team Viva
Suddenly, a child disappears from the world, nowhere to be found. A year later, his mother reopens his personal diary and with it, the case of his kidnapping. This is just one little hint about the big thriller that Amazon Prime Video’s new film, Penguin, is. Actor Keerthy Suresh, known for her National Award-winning portrayal of Savithri Ganesh in her biopic, Mahanati, plays the lead, Rhythm, a pregnant woman who has lost her first child. She sets out to solve the puzzle and retrieve her missing child and uncovers the bitter truths about the kidnappers. From Savithri to Rhythm, Keerthy narrates her transition into different and demanding roles and how challenging was this one to play.
Excerpts:
What is the film Penguin about? Why did it take you two years to be seen in a film after Mahanati?
My character Rhythm is leading a happy life when she’s about to have her second child but is traumatised by nightmares of an ‘umbrella man’ who is a blend of Charlie Chaplin and Hitler, harming her lost son. She sets off on a dangerous journey along with her trained dog to unravel the secrets behind the nightmares and to protect her loved ones. Also, talking about the two year-gap, I would say that it is all about what opportunities come your way. And in this case, it took a while for me and Penguin to cross paths.
What is the significance of the title, Penguin?
There is a certain rationale behind the title, Penguin. Contrary to popular belief, the Antarctic species are more than just cute and harmless birds because they can even get mad and turn violent. Eashvar (Karthick, director) chose to give the title on them because penguins are very dedicated parents. Just like the character I am playing in the film, the birds as parents endure harsh weather to protect and nurture their offspring.
In what way is the film different from Amazon Prime Video’s Ponmagal Vandhal?
Penguin shares some similarity with the recently released Jyotika-starrer Ponmagal Vandhal, which was set in the backdrop of Ooty, a chilly hill station, where a few young children went missing. But while Ponmagal Vandhal was a courtroom ‘message’ film, Penguin promises to be a full-fledged edge-of-the-seat thriller, with a difference.
What was your inspiration behind playing Rhythm? How demanding was it?
When it comes to finding inspiration for a role, as an actor, I have always been in a different zone. I do not try to get the ‘hang’ of my character myself, but just leave myself at the hands of my director. S/he knows everything about the intricacies of the person he wants to create through that character as in the first place, it is he who has written the subject. It was physically very demanding because it was for the first time that I was acting in a thriller, which was also an action film, and playing a pregnant woman’s character, I had to fight like her and at the same time, maintain my own pace. It is not at all easy to carry your own belly throughout the shooting, you know!
Is the story based on a real-life incident?
A few years ago, a friend of Eashvar had shared with him his personal experience of travelling by a train from Mumbai to Chennai when he realised that his pregnant woman co-passenger had lost her child during the journey and had set out to retrieve the child by fighting against all odds. It is definitely inspired by that.
Were you sceptical about playing a pregnant mother with a kid in Penguin? What were the major challenges?
The way Eashvar narrated the role to me was so dramatic and endearing that I did not know that four hours had already elapsed since he had begun the narration. I felt that the role was so challenging that not even for a moment did I feel that I was required to play a pregnant woman with a child. I had no inhibition at all to play the character of a pregnant mother with a kid who has been kidnapped. It was actually the script which did the trick and I forgot all about whether playing a role like this will affect me or not.
It was a really challenging but intriguing script. There is a lot of meat in this emotional thriller that I had to come across regularly. Penguin has definitely been one of the most exciting and interesting projects that I’ve worked on. As a mother, my character Rhythm is both gentle and caring, but she is also fiercely determined. She is complex as well as authentic, something I believe will strike a chord with the audience. And personally, as an actor, I think I have grown over the past couple of years and hence, feel more responsible. I feel there is a lot more responsibility on my slender shoulders to portray good characters, especially after I won the National Award for Mahanati.
Before I started preparing for Penguin, I had actually lost a lot of weight but Eashvar asked me to put on weight. He wanted to get the correct colour palette and costume for my character. My mother Menaka who was a popular actress in Malayalam films also helped me a lot with her inputs. We shot the film for 35 nights.
In what way did your previous venture, Mahanati, help you get your subsequent offers in films?
The film definitely played a very salient role in getting me an opportunity to get many women-centric films.
There were talks about you making a debut in Bollywood...
I was to make my debut in the Hindi cinema alongside actor Ajay Devgn in Maidaan, a film that represents the glorious decade of Indian football but as of now I am not doing any Hindi film per se. Right now, I don’t have any projects in Hindi cinema.
Instead of theatres, Penguin is now all set to be streamed on an OTT platform...
I am quite excited because it is after a long gap of two years after Mahanati that the audience will see me in a film. It wasn’t ideally supposed to get released on OTT but it’s because of this pandemic. I believe that it has its own advantages as well as disadvantages. But I still feel butterflies in my stomach and I am very confident that Penguin will connect with all the mothers in the world because it sets out to talk about motherhood and all the sacrifices that a mother makes in the world.
Do you feel any kind of pressure when you’re the only lead in a film and there’s no other actor to support the narrative?
The pressure has increased manifolds after Mahanati, especially because I had also bagged a prestigious, the national award for my performance in it. For my role as Rhythm, I had to put in a lot of efforts and do preparations. And it’s because I had to crack the exact look of a pregnant woman with a child. It could be indeed very challenging to carry a film’s story solely on your shoulders.
Any memorable anecdotes while shooting the film...
Yes! One day, when it was raining heavily in the dense forests where we were shooting, several unit members were stung by the bees and hurt badly and we had to even cancel the shoot for a day. It’s unforgettable! Thankfully, all went fine, I escaped and wasn’t hurt.
How would you compare Penguin’s Rhythm and Mahanati’s Savithri Ganesh?
The first would be the shift of genres. And I think this shift was tough to adapt to considering the fact that Penguin is a thriller. It was quite tough to shoot for the film in Kodaikkanal during the winters in the wee hours of the morning but not even once did I question myself what I was doing. It was a group and we had fun shooting. I could get into the skin of my character thanks to the implicit trust that I had in my director Eashvar.
Your forthcoming films?
After Penguin, the films which are in my kitty as of now are Priyadarshan’s Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham, Miss India, (Telugu) Rang De and Annathe (Tamil). The film, Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham alongside Mohanlal and Suneil Shetty is set in the 16th century and is said to be made on a mammoth budget of Rs 100 crore.
