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Priya Prakash Varrier on 'NEEK': Dhanush Sir’s Narration Was as Good as Watching the Film
Priya Prakash Varrier talks all things 'Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam' and why Dhanush is the most articulate director she has worked with.
This week’s release window is no ordinary Friday for actor Priya Prakash Varrier. Not only will the actor make her Tamil debut with Dhanush’s third directorial Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam (NEEK), but she will also be seen in the Kannada film Vishnu Priya.
But instead of feeling nervous about two consecutive releases, Varrier says she is now at a place in her career where she doesn’t "tie expectations to the outcome of films" as there are too many factors that decide a film’s fate.
So, she is choosing to focus on what she can control.
"When I started out at the age of 18, the outcome of a film’s release used to really affect me," Varrier says.
"I used to get confused about what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. It took me a while to realise how unpredictable the business is and that there’s no point worrying. Now it’s all about the excitement of watching my movie on release day with friends and family. If they like it, I feel validated, and if they don’t, I still learn something as an actor."
There were many such lessons to grasp from the sets of Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam. Apart from it being her debut Tamil film, it is also the first time she’s working with a director who is also a trained, award-winning actor.
"That did make a difference," Varrier adds, explaining the difference an actor brings to his role as director. "I’ve not worked with another director who is as articulate about acting as Dhanush sir. His words while explaining a performance are simple. It could be, 'Go a notch higher, or do it more subtly,' but he knows exactly what he wants and how to extract it from his actor."
Varrier recalls the first few days on the set when she hadn’t cracked her character yet. She was ready with her lines, but something was missing in her performance.
"I had understood my character to be someone who was very coy and feminine and was narrating my lines in that manner. But Dhanush sir explained her in a way that helped me understand her better; he wanted her to be bold and strong, and said, ‘She is someone who speaks straight to your face and knows exactly what to say.’ It might seem like a small suggestion, but it helped with everything, including body language.”
What worked in her favour was how Dhanush considered her a senior in a star cast filled with relative newcomers. Instead of explaining the performance by acting it out himself, Dhanush trusted Varrier's conviction.
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"He could easily have recorded short videos of himself doing a scene and get us to re-create that exactly. He may even have approached us with specific references for us to emulate. But he wanted to trust his actors and their process to arrive at the character," she adds.
Having grown up around Tamil movies and television serials, the language was never an issue for the actor. In fact, Varrier needed no reassurances about doing NEEK, five minutes after Dhanush briefly explained the film’s subject.
"Without listening to the full narration, it was still clearly very fresh and fun. I was 200 percent confident about the film and Dhanush sir; I didn’t even have to think about it," she recalls.
And finally, when he did narrate the full film, Varrier says it was like she had "watched the entire film in front of my eyes."
"The film itself is a rom-com and his narration for comedy scenes were just hilarious. He would speak like his characters, emote each scene perfectly and get you to see the final film. It was three hours long, and none of us felt bored even for a second. I wish more people could see what we saw when he narrated the film to us. It was as exciting as watching the film in the theatres," Varrier adds.