‘Treading New Pastures’: Samyuktha Menon Speaks!

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The ‘Popcorn’ Actress Speaks to RITZ About Her New Project In Kollywood

A voracious reader who loves to write poems and musings, a travel junkie, a popular model and a budding actress, Samyuktha Menon made her acting debut with the Mollywood flick, ‘Popcorn’. While she is a star in the making, at heart, she is a young BA Economics student whose dream is to be an entrepreneur. RITZ is in conversation with the 21 year old, who is confident and poised to take on Kollywood next!

Text: Riya Sonny Datson

Samyuktha hails from Palakkad, Kerala and she did her schooling from Chinmaya Vidyalaya. Like any tenth standard student, she was ready to crack the entrance exams and take up a professional career when she got a call to do a modelling assignment with ‘Vanitha’, a popular women’s magazine in Kerala. Mollywood came calling next and there has been no looking back for Samyuktha since then.

“My first Malayalam movie, ‘Popcorn’ was literally a cakewalk thanks to the character in the movie! It was a very simple role and I just needed to be myself. I was totally clueless about movies and all I knew was that I needed to start when the director says ‘Action’ and stop when he says ‘Cut’,” she grins. “It was a great learning experience. My co-star, Shine Tom was very supportive and gave me a lot of tips. His experience as an assistant director definitely helped me get a better idea of what I was expected to do,” she continues.

When asked about a memorable experience while on the sets of Popcorn, she recalls an instance while shooting in Nasik. “We were in a rural village in Nasik where people barely knew what cinema meant, let alone Mollywood. But surprisingly, some of the village folk had heard of Megastar Mohanlal and they were even humming his song. I was amazed at how the Superstar had reached out to an audience that didn’t even speak Malayalam. The experience was truly an eye opener!”

Outside of films, Samyuktha loves to read and write poems and musings in her mother tongue. “I draw inspiration from books. My current read is the ‘Immortals of Meluha’,” she says. She talks excitedly about how she has travelled across India except for the Eastern part of the country. “There were times when I have travelled without even setting a destination in mind. I am a lone traveller and I enjoy exploring new places so much so that, I have a backpack always ready. But I am also a cautious and alert traveller and I don’t venture out at night by myself nor do I stay at any lonely places,” she says. Her love for traveling started from the time she was in school and she recalls how the ‘Chinmaya’ way of life has had an effect on every aspect of her life.

She is super excited about her latest outing with Tamil cinema. The film, written and directed by Kiranchand, has Krishna Kulasekaran playing the lead role. She describes her character, ‘Thenmozhi’ as a strong personality who is required to portray various emotions. “It is a very challenging role with a very interesting script that has been written with a lot of thought and effort. People have been congratulating me from the day I signed the contract. Although I am thrilled to take on the challenge, the expectations are also very high, which is making me a bit nervous!” Her biggest challenge? “I am not a person who is overly worried about diet and exercise, so I feel that is something that I need to start paying more attention to. As an actor, it is very important to maintain the right look for the character and that, I think is going to be a challenge!” she says as she signs off.  

Quick Five:

Zodiac: Virgo

I Love: Amma

I Hate: Critics

I Admire: Hardworking people

I Desire: To be remembered by the masses

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