Making a Comeback

Gautami talks about teaming up with Mohanlal, after 18 years, in ‘Vismayam’, as well as her future plans

By Shevlin Sebastian

Gautami breaks into a small laugh when she is told that the film, ‘Vismayam’, has been received well in Kerala. “That’s so nice to hear,” she says. She is starring alongside Mollywood superstar Mohanlal, who dons the role of an assistant manager in a supermarket. Asked why she chose the role, Gautami says, “I wanted to work with the director, Chandrasekhar Yeleti, because he is passionate about the type of films he wants to make.”

Secondly, she liked the script. “Gayathri, the character I play, is like like most Indian woman, whose world is made up of her family and home,” says Gautami. The film has also been released in Tamil and Telugu. 

Gautami has teamed up with Mohanlal after 18 years. The last film they worked together was the Malayalam superhit, ‘His Highness Abdullah.’

Asked how Mohanlal has changed, Gautami says, “There is a maturing and greater ease in his acting. All these years he has been honing his talent. So, he has a deeper understanding of the craft.”

This is something that Gautami has missed. She left acting, nearly twenty years ago, so that she could, as a single mother, be with her daughter, Subbalakshmi, 24x7. “But I have no regrets about it,” she says. “I always did what I wanted to do, at every stage of my life. Subbalakshmi is 16 now and ready to go college. So I felt that this is the right time to return to films.”

In fact, her first film was last year’s Tamil superhit, ‘Papanasam’, in which she starred alongside her partner Kamal Haasan.

She is, of course, best qualified to compare the two legends, Kamal and Mohanlal. “Both have huge personas,” says Gautami. “And they have reached where they have, through dint of sheer hard work.”

But when told that it must have been easy for them because of their God-given talent and charisma, Gautami says, “I know of many people who have talent and charisma, but unless you are willing to put in a huge amount of struggle, it is very hard to make a mark.”

And making a mark is what Gautami plans to do now. “I would like to act in both mainstream and meaningful films,” she says. In fact, she has just signed, to act in a Tamil romantic comedy, with Prabhu Deva. “We are teaming up, after 26 long years,” she says, with a beaming smile. “It feels great to be back.”

(Sunday Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)