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| Rima Kallingal is the new kid on the ‘filmi’ block. The independent actor is a professional already, Shilpa Nair Anand finds out |
Simply cool Rima Kallinkal is individualistic
Rima Kallingal gestures a lot when she talks: Hands in constant motion, never still for even a second. “It is the dancer in me,” she says. She literally danced her way to showbiz.
This reigning Miss Kerala runner-up was one of the semi-finalists on Asianet’s Vodafone ‘Ta ka dhi mi’. That led her to last year’s Miss Kerala competition and eventually to Shyamaprasad’s ‘Ritu’ and Lal Jose’s remake of ‘Neela Thamara’. She is on the move and extremely busy, as we find out during our hour-long wait for her.
Constantly shuttling between film locations and modelling shoots, she says what she desperately needs is “sleep.”
Life has definitely taken a complete U-turn for the Thrissur-based dancer (who till recently was based in Bangalore). She is enjoying every moment of it too. Acting was the furthest thing on her mind, all this journalism graduate wanted to do was start her own dance school in Bangalore. That was when ‘Ta ka dhi mi’ happened, just for a lark, and she was noticed on the show. But that did not translate into substantial offers for films, “what I got was offers for stage shows (dance).”
Post ‘Ta ka dhi mi’ and post-Miss Kerala is when the offers started trickling in. “I have set three criteria to do a film – the banner, the script, the director. One of these has to be good. I still have a long way to go before I want all the three in one film,” she grins. Her strong sense of individuality is striking.
It was this or rather these reasons that made her sit out offers for films. She just did not want to go about on a signing spree just for the heck of it. “I waited for almost six months till I came across a good enough offer and also at no point did I ever go seeking roles.” The wait was well worth it, she got an offer from Lal Jose for his Tamil film which eventually got shelved. Just as well, she feels in retrospect.
It was around this time that Shyamaprasad was looking for Varsha John, for ‘Ritu’, and had auditioned some people (“around 25 actors”) and hadn’t found his Varsha. “Since my first project was shelved, I was free for ‘Ritu’ and could do the project,” says Rima. The best place, she says, she could have started her innings as an actor.
Somewhere along the line came ‘Neela Thamara’, directed by Lal Jose, remake of the film by the same name. “Lal Sir wanted me to do a role in the film because he wanted to compensate for an opportunity I lost. Therefore I am Sharath Ammini,” Rima says.
Rima confesses to never having timed her entry into tinsel town. Nevertheless she could not have come in at a better time. For reasons ranging from matrimony to migration to other film industries, there are no heroines as such and therefore a good time for a newcomer to establish a firm foothold.
She travels alone un-chaperoned, “I have been brought up like this, to be independent and that is what I am. I don’t believe in dragging my mother along to film locations.”
Just two films old (to be released soon), she has worked with two directors considered to be in the forefront among contemporary directors.
“Both the directors are poles apart in terms of how they work and it has been some schooling for me. On the one hand Shyam Sir has thought out about each and every character. We have lived our characters, we were expected to learn each and every scene and dialogue before we showed up for the shoot. On the other hand Lal Sir has an extremely different way of doing things. For instance, for ‘Neela Thamara’, Lal Sir has not asked us to watch the film lest we get influenced by what we see, it is another matter that getting prints of the original is next to impossible,” says Rima.
Both films are diverse in terms of settings too: If one film is almost like a period film the other is very contemporary in terms of the subject and treatment, a very conscious decision and Rima agrees. “This way there is no way I can be slotted. Now that I have worked with these two directors, I am open to some running around trees and dancing routines. I understand that that is an integral part of our films and why not? Besides I am here to make money” she says. She confesses to being bitten by the acting bug now that she in the industry. “It is a beautiful profession.”
Some would see this plunge as a huge gamble, but not Rima. “Remember I am a dancer first. That is my back up.”
signature
Rima wears her curly mop like a crown. “The curls that I sport are my signature. I have always been known for these, which by the way, are natural. I do not see any sense in straightening them out,” says Rima. On days when she wants them tame she brushes her hair, “today they are tame, they just curl up,” she gestures with her hands.
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