Aishwarya Rajesh’s film Farhana, who is known for her powerful performance in films like Kanaa and The Great Indian Kitchen, hit the silver screens on May 12. The film, directed by Nelson Venkatesan, is about a married working woman at a call center who comes from a conservative Muslim family. Ahead of the film’s release, Aishwarya opened up about playing a ‘unique’ role, her upcoming films and more in an exclusive chat with us.

“When Nelson brought me this idea, OTT wasn’t even trending… It was before covid lockdown. But later covid happened and lives were on pause hold mode. One day Nelson called me and said let’s do it like Dream Warriors is on board and that’s how it started. Farhana as such is unique itself. When I heard the idea I was really kicked about it. It’s a very different script. It wasn’t a usual film and as a character performer it is also a very It will be a very experimental film as Farhana is that one character that I could not connect with my real character, it is so different,” said Aishwarya who also revealed that Farhana was initially slated for an OTT release.

What became challenging about playing the role of Farhana?

Aishwarya Rajesh replied, “When you do a film with a hero, you are very relaxed because it is not hectic like a woman-centric film. You have so much responsibility on you when you do a woman-centric film do and if the movie doesn’t do well, of course people will say the actor has flopped. To do a woman-centric film, I had so much responsibility to look at because it had to be unique, with commercial elements and a lot things. Post-Covid, we’re all exposed to so many languages ​​and everything has become so global.”

Have you ever been offended by individuals trying to typecast you for the roles you play in the films?

Not really and now a lot of scripts come to me but I have to choose accordingly what will work for me. Yes, somewhere they typed you, but maybe it is in my hand to choose the right script.

You made your acting debut in 2010 and you’ve come a long way since then. Everyone goes through a downturn in their career. How do you deal with failure?

Not everyone’s journey can be smooth, there will be ups and downs. Every day is a learning process and I learned from everything.

Do you think women still have thousands to get an equal representation of what male actors get in the film industry?

Just if my film does well, it won’t change anything. When all the female actors and so many female-centric films will do well, it will make a difference. In Tamil there are very few actresses like Nayanthara, Keerthy Suresh, Samantha, Sai Pallavi and Trisha (who do women centric films), and their films should also do well and then it will become an equal industry. I wish all the female-centric films do very well so that we have balance in the equation and it won’t be called a male-dominated industry. It won’t happen overnight, but I can already see the changes. 10 years later, I’m very sure it’s going to change and make a big difference.”

Your next, Dear with GV Prakash looks unique and attractive

It’s a rom-com. It is about snoring and what is different about the film is here female has a snoring problem. It’s like breaking the barriers. We don’t want to stereotype so if it’s a snoring thing it will be about a man, why can’t it be a female version? When a woman has a snoring problem and how her life changes is the story.

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