Aishwarya Lekshmi is done taking herself too seriously. At least, for now. The actor’s Netflix show #Love puts her in the CEO’s chair of a dating app, where she and an adventurous competitor put their opposing theories about love to the test in a 60-day challenge to find the right match. Off screen, she’s been travelling, reading, getting scuba certified and taking a welcome break from social media. On-screen, she’s trying something else entirely: playing a police officer for the first time in an upcoming Tamil film.
It’s all part of Lekshmi’s current approach to work: keep things unpredictable, find well-written characters and, every once in a while, just have some fun.
Excerpts from a conversation:
Your Netflix show #Love is quite different from some of the more serious projects you’ve done recently. You play the CEO of a dating app, where your character’s ideas about love are tested against an adventurous competitor in a 60-day challenge. What made you say yes?
I actually felt like I was doing too many serious projects, you know? I wanted to be my age and do something lighter. Every time people met me, they would go, “You’re the nicest person ever, why are you always doing intense stuff all the time?” and I was feeling it too.
I really enjoyed playing this character. She’s trying to navigate everyday life, but she has some swag. She’s smart, but sometimes she makes stupid decisions.. and she has a very complicated love life.
The Netflix association was exciting too. All of us in the film industry want to be associated with the streamer, and I was especially happy that they came to me for the role. Even at the look test, I felt like I didn’t need much time to get into character. I was already there.
I’d imagine that the show also made you revisit your own relationship with dating apps. What is your take on using them to find potential partners?
I actually used to shun dating apps. I would get advertisements and endorsement offers for dating apps through Instagram, and I could have made a lot of money, but I never wanted to.
Once or twice, I opened an app just to see what it was like, and I was taken aback by the kind of pictures and profiles I saw. So I didn’t think to endorse one for the longest time!
But these days, I don’t think it’s a bad idea because I’ve seen people who have met their partners on dating apps. I’m not against it anymore. But keep your brain switched on at all times. Make sure you double-check everything.
What are you currently shooting for at the moment?
It’s a female-centric Tamil film directed by debutant filmmaker Aiswarya Aanand, and I play a cop in it. She’s not a cop who knows exactly what to do, when to do it and how to do it. She’s also a normal person who happens to have a job as a police officer, and the film is about how she navigates a particular situation that she’s supposed to deal with.
How has the experience been so far?
I felt so powerful wearing the uniform!
The core team is all women, and it’s been so much fun starting this project and prepping for it. I’ve actually thought, “Oh wow, is this how much fun people have on set when they really get involved in the making of the film also?”
Usually, I would mostly think about my character and then move on to the next project. This time, I’ve had an opportunity to collaborate with the director at a much deeper level.
We sit together and discuss things at a production level as well, and whatever she wants to take into account, she takes it forward. I’ve even been sitting in the director’s office until 3 am discussing the soundtrack of the film, how we want to treat certain scenes, and so on. It’s been a completely different experience for me.
Your Gatta Kusthi sequel worked well at the box-office. Were you wary that it could be hit or miss, or were you just excited to step into the shoes of this character again?
I was scared at first to be honest, because I thought the story ended with the first film, and didn’t know how they could take it forward. But I still was excited to see what was planned; she (Keerthi) is a character who has given me so much, so I wanted to see her again.
When Vishnu Vishal first called me, he just asked me to meet the director Chella Ayyavu and then decide. Then I heard the story and found it interesting. There were certain things I felt strongly about, though. In some places, I felt the mother was a little too strict, and I don’t like too much strictness.
He explained that it wasn’t really about strictness; it was about a mother trying to be a disciplinarian because she wants her child to grow up understanding certain things about the world and incorporating them into daily life. I trusted them both; I had really enjoyed working on the first part, so I was happy to come back.
It’s a tricky time (as always) for female actors to navigate acting choices. You went from playing typically feminine characters in a Ponniyin Selvan or Maaman to essaying a wrestler in the Gatta Kusthi movies. Do you ever worry about how audiences would perceive such transitions?
I was more excited about getting to do something different. I keep saying in interviews that writers don’t write good enough stories for female actors. They have almost desensitised the severity of molestation or rape by making it the central conflict in so many female characters. In a lot of Tamil or Malayalam films, it becomes one of the only or most common conflicts a woman can have.
I used to think, why just that? A man can have so many conflicts, so why can’t a woman have other kinds of conflicts? Sometimes sexual assault becomes the only conflict. Overusing it makes it feel like just another thing that can happen. It takes away from the implications of such an incident; the trauma that is left behind and that a woman has to process after something like that happens.
And I don’t think this typecasting or compartmentalisation of actors is done by the audience. It’s done by the industry… by producers, directors, heroes, filmmakers and other decision-makers.
Whenever interesting, big stories have come to me, I’ve taken them up, and I’ve been thankful for those opportunities. As long as I’m choosing the characters, I can choose differently. People only know what you’ve done once the movie comes out. So I like a mixed bag.
And I’m a mixed bag myself. I’m not just a quiet or sweet person. I’m also very fiery and can kick some ass in person, so why not let my characters do that too? I also feel women, in general, are self-contradictory. They appear to be one way, but they’re mostly not.
You’ve also spoken about doing projects for personal reasons. Was working with Mani Ratnam one of those experiences?
Working with Mani sir has always been a dream of mine, and I never thought I would get the opportunity. With Ponniyin Selvan, I knew how much of an impact the book had on Tamil audiences, particularly the generation that grew up reading it. The current 40-to-60 age group in Tamil Nadu would have grown up with Ponniyin Selvan.
So I wanted to play one of their favourite characters in the film. Those things are personal for me. I don’t look at them monetarily, and I don’t think about how they’re going to position me as an actor.
The learning I’ve had in the film industry has also given me enough confidence to feel that, tomorrow, I could put together a project myself. Even if something unfortunate happens and nothing is working out, I have a set of strengths and connections that could help me make a film happen. I’m confident about that.
Does that mean you’re open to any genre, as long as the material works?
Absolutely. It can be any genre. It can be a full-blown masala entertainer, but make it entertaining. If a masala entertainer is narrated to me and there’s no entertainment in it, I won’t pick it up.
Take Happy New Year, for instance. It’s such an easy watch. I’ve watched it an unhealthy number of times. I’ve also watched Chennai Express an unhealthy number of times. I’m not going to say I don’t want to be part of entertainment. I absolutely do. But make it entertaining!