'I play a bold North Madras girl in Kannitheevu'

From being introduced in Bharathiraja's Annakodi to playing the titular character in the recently released Nethra, it has been quite a satisfactory journey for actor Subiksha. She still fondly remembers bagging her debut role in the veteran director's film without auditions. "To go from there to a Fahadh Faasil film (Olipporu) and then to the Kannada industry (Anjada Gandu) was as perfect a launch pad as I could wish for."

The actor has since starred predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, and in the latter industry, she has worked with seasoned directors like Vikraman, Vijay Milton and Balaji Sakthivel. "Interestingly, the first film I committed to, nearly two-and-half years after my debut, was Balaji Sakthivel sir's Ra Ra Rajasekar. Unfortunately, the film hasn't seen the light of the day. Towards the end of that shoot schedule, Vijay Milton signed me up for Kadugu. It was a very small role and I told him so too. But he promised me that it would fetch me recognition, and sure enough, soon after the film's release, everyone started calling me Kadugu Subiksha."

She was cast once again in the director's Goli Soda 2 that was released last year. Director A Venkatesh, who played an inspector in that film, saw rushes of it and felt that Subiksha would be perfect for the role of an innocent Tamil speaking girl in his return to direction, Nethra. "Unlike Innocent Inbavalli, who stays true to her moniker throughout Goli Soda 2, Nethra is a girl who grows in the film with each new struggle, as she travels from Karaikudi to Canada for the first time with her boyfriend."

Subiksha didn't know that Venkatesh was an industry veteran too. "I learned that he has done three films with Vijay sir. We used to talk so much about Bhagavathi, as we discussed my role, since I was playing the titular character in Nethra much like Vijay sir did in that film. I asked if it was true that Vijay sir was silent on the sets, and he told me that wasn't necessarily the case. Apparently, he is deeply meditative during the shoot, but outside of that, he's as jolly a person as anyone else."

Nethra's shooting, she confides, was filled with struggles. "This film was started nearly two-and-a-half years back. We had to shoot in Canada but our visas were rejected en masse. We had to wait for nearly a year before going through the process again. I almost lost hope but the director told me to hold on." After they finally got the visa, Subiksha had another shock waiting for her. "I was told I had to travel with bridal makeup and a saree. Venkatesh sir told me that we would be shooting inside the flight and at Frankfurt airport (during the layover) as well. Imagine my plight -- travelling over 20 hours in such a costume and then landing in Canada, where it was minus 25 degrees. Thank god the director listened to my plea and eventually changed it to a churidar."

Things are looking up now for Subiksha, who tells us she has Balaji Sakthivel's Yaar Ivargal, in which she plays a doctor, as well as Vettai Naai, which sees her paired opposite RK Suresh. "In the latter, I get to go through the whole gamut of school girl, married woman and mother phases of the character - all in one movie. And then finally, there's Kannitheevu, which has me sharing screen space with Varu (Varalaxmi), Aishwarya Dutta and Ashna Zaveri. I play a bold North Madras girl and it is an action-oriented script. We fight as well as men do on screen. Two more projects are in the pipeline too, but I am awaiting official announcements for those."