Parvathy Thiruvothu has spent over two decades as an actor, and has worked on projects across industries, including Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Telugu. In recent years, she has split her time and work between Mumbai and Kochi.
Like many actors from the southern states who move base, she has encountered assumptions about what that shift signals for her career. In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, Thiruvothu spoke about maintaining two bases, the perception that comes with moving between industries, and how relocating in her late 30s compares to leaving home for the first time at 19.
Thiruvothu has two home bases, spending her time mostly between Mumbai and Kerala. “At this point, I have two home bases — for the most part I’m living in Mumbai, and other times I’m in Kerala, so you take your pick,” she says.
She has noticed a peculiar pattern each time she moves. “It’s funny... the moment I make a massive shift to Bombay, the number of projects I get from the south increases, and the moment we come back to Kerala, I have many opportunities coming from Mumbai. All I need to do is come stay in Kerala for a few days... it’s a very strange perception to have,” she explains.
For Thiruvothu, the move to Mumbai has expanded her professional world beyond acting. “It also pushes me beyond being an actor. I love meeting people and having the idea that with this person, I could collaborate on a show, or with this person, I could build a music album. There are so many of us just dreaming and thriving,” she notes.
Kochi offers a different rhythm. “Whereas coming back to Kochi, that kind of space where people meet and socialise is very foreign to me — everyone has their own little group. There isn’t exactly a PR scene or a café scene here, no pop culture... so it makes for a great balance for me,” she adds.
She’s aware that this back-and-forth might bring advantages professionally, but insists it isn’t a calculated move. “Optics may work out for me to attract more work, but frankly that’s out of my control. I can only do my best by being here and there. This moving between cities and building a full personal base in Mumbai has to be enjoyable for me; if I had done it only for the optics, I think I would have gotten extremely tired. Which so far I haven’t,” she admits.
This isn’t the first time Thiruvothu has shifted bases. “I moved out when I was 19, from my parents’ house in Trivandrum where I grew up, to Kochi, one and a half years into the industry. At 19, it was more exciting because I was young and figuring it out, feeling full freedom, full financial freedom,” she says.
Doing it again at 38 feels different, she muses. “Moving cities at this age is a very humbling thing; suddenly you feel like a starter and a beginner again, when your bones are aching at this point. I’m not saying I’m very old, but I definitely do not have the energy of being 19. You have the life, the experience, the weight of the wisdom, you know too much about life at this point. At 19, I’d throw myself into a fire and figure it out; at 38, I figure all the possible consequences of the action first,” she explains with a laugh.
Taking the leap meant that she had to consciously channel her younger self. “It put me in a position where I could cosplay as my 19-year-old self, because the only way I’d take this risk of moving and creating a whole new base and home — double the responsibility, double the expense, double the effort — is if I could look at life with curiosity, treading lightly on the whole affair. I had a lot of internal pushback when I did this the first time, but a few months in, I’m behaving like a teenager in my mind. Otherwise, I think I’d be too scared to take some risks,” she notes.