I’ve Wished For This Kind Of Recognition As An Actor: Mamitha Baiju On The Success of Premalu
Mamitha Baiju is riding high on the success of her latest Malayalam romcom Premalu (2024), in which she plays the delightful and happy-go-lucky Reenu, who finds love in Hyderabad. The film has already crossed the 100 crore mark at the box office, and was recently in Telugu recently, which will be followed by its Tamil release this week. "I've wished for this kind of recognition as an actor so, I'm super grateful," she tells us in an interview. Premalu joins a list of Malayalam films that prominently features a Tamil cinema influence.
The actress opens up about the possible reasons behind the increasing influence of Tamil films and pop culture on Malayalam cinema, in light of Malayalam cinema's yet another recent blockbuster: Manjummel Boys (2024). “The language is also very similar, right? As far as I know, all my friends are not limited to watching just Malayalam films, but they are all trying to catch up with all Tamil and Hindi films. Their taste is so versatile and they understand all languages. Even for me, it's the same thing. I keep track of everything that’s happening in Tamil cinema. I can watch Tamil films without subtitles and really enjoy the experience.”
Premalu, which is set in Hyderabad, was a refreshing experience for the actress. “We got to interact with the people there and form a new bond with all of them.” The Premalu actress is also confident about her ability to learn languages quickly. “I believe that I am not afraid of using different languages. I know I can make sense of a language like Tamil. For instance, if you tell me to say anything in Tamil, I will try without any fear or inhibition.”
Mamitha will next be seen making her Tamil film debut in Nikesh RS’s Rebel, opposite actor-musician GV Prakash Kumar. The political thriller is said to revolve around the lives of students battling discrimination during the campus elections of a Kerala college in the 1980s. The film has many other Malayalam actors in the cast and is expected to be an action film based on events inspired by real life.
The actress made her debut in 2017, got her first major break in Girish AD’s Super Sharanya (2022), where she played a supporting character. When asked about exploring comedy in Super Sharanya and her ability to extract response from audiences with just a few expressions on screen, Mamitha adds, “I will have to thank my director Girish A.D. He is the kind of director who gives you the space to do things on screen, even if the scene is not entirely set around your character. Even though I was not playing the lead character in that film, he would listen to people. He asks each of us if we would be able to do something for ourselves in a scene and give us a spotlight to shine in that particular moment. That might be the reason why I was able to bring out those kinds of expressions. Maybe that’s why I was able to perform so freely on screen.”