Malayalam cinema star Nimisha Sajayan says critical acclaim for her 2021 role in The Great Indian Kitchen helped her reach a wider audience and created work opportunities in the Hindi film industry. (Also read: Poacher review: Richie Mehta crafts an atmospheric tale of the illegal ivory trade,
The Malayalam language film, directed by Jio Baby, became one of the most acclaimed films during Covid. The film revolves around how women are oppressed in their marriages and often tied down to ungrateful and back-breaking household chores. Sajayan played the role of a woman who begins to resist her oppression and learns to seek freedom.
“It (the film) brought more opportunities from the North. Earlier, my work was limited to the South audience, but now it has spread to the northern states as well,” Sajayan told PTI in an interview.
The 27-year-old actor, who will be seen playing the role of a forest officer in Richie Mehta’s Prime Video series Poacher, has been praised for his acting in the series by executive producer Alia Bhatt.
Sajayan’s other significant roles are in movies such as Oru Kuprasidha Payyan, Chola, Nayattu, Malik and Chithha.
Based on true events, the multilingual series exposes the illegal ivory trade in India from the perspective of forest officials and wildlife warriors. Sajayan said that to get into her character completely, she met a forest officer from Kerala to understand her character.
“I met him (the official) and I talked to him for two hours. It’s impossible to know a person in two hours so I asked him about his relationships with his colleagues and his family. I asked him one question. ‘You How do you feel when you learn about cases of poaching? He said, ‘Nimisha just imagine that you have something in your house which is very close to your heart and your house is looted and taken away. How would you feel?’
He said, “So, from his answer I understood who the character is and how emotionally committed he is to the forest. I think that was my preparation. Just one question and I got the character.”
Along with Sajayan, Pochar will also see Roshan Mathew and Debendu Bhattacharya in lead roles. The series is scheduled to premiere on February 23.
