Amy Jackson: I binge-watched all the Commando films before doing Crakk

Amy Jackson was 16 when she started her career in films. Coming from a non-filmy background, she says she never thought of acting. However, when she got an opportunity to play the role of Amy Wilkinson in director Vijay's period drama, Madrasapattinam in 2010, she wanted to make the most of it. Since then, Amy has worked in Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. Being someone who doesn’t speak any of these, Amy believes that cinema transcends the barrier of languages. “I have come to believe that cinema has no language,” she says. “It is about making people feel something regardless of whether you are speaking Hindi, Tamil, English or German,” she adds.

The actor will next be seen in the Hindi film Crakk – Jeetegaa… Toh Jiyegaa, which will be released in theatres on February 23. This will be her first Hindi film since 2016’s Freaky Ali, in which she starred alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Crakk also stars Vidyut Jammwal, Arjun Rampal and Nora Fatehi. In the film, Amy plays the role of Patricia Novak, a Europol agent who speaks 13 languages, Hindi being one of them. She shared how she did workshops with writer-director Aditya Datt and co-writer Rehan Khan to get into the depths of her character in the film. “Patricia is somewhat similar to me. She is strong-minded, committed and dedicated,” Amy says. “At the same time, she is also very reclusive and a woman of few words. Whereas I am someone who likes to talk a lot. So, it was a challenge to play the role as I had to get into that frame of mind where I am not using dialogues as a form of expression”.

In the film, Amy will be doing a lot of action and has undergone rigorous training. Along with that, she had to make sure that she matched up with Vidyut and Arjun’s energy. Further, Amy talks about how much Vidyut inspires her. “I had always wanted to work with him,” she says. “When I was doing the research for Crakk, I checked his earlier films. I binge-watched all Commando films which I massively enjoyed. It prepared me on what to expect on the sets of Crakk,” she adds.

According to Amy, in all the hustle and bustle of an action film set, it was Vidyut, who brought a sense of calm. She reflects on the conversations that happened in between shots. “Vidyut used to tell me how he goes to the Himalayas every year and immerses himself in the snow,” says Amy. “We were talking about bio-hacking and health. During the waiting time on set, I would constantly ask him questions and hear his stories.” 

Amy became a mother in 2019 when she gave birth to a boy just months before the Covid-19 lockdown. She revealed that the lockdown proved to be good for her as she got to spend time with her son. “Having a newborn and being guilt-free to not travel the world for work was just extraordinary. He was with me continuously, which was beautiful,” she says, and then adds, “Now I try to balance work and family to the best of my ability and it's difficult. So, having that precious time during the lockdown was incredible.”

She also took her son on the sets of the Arun Vijay-starrer, Mission: Chapter 1, in which she once again got to work with director Vijay. On bringing her son to the workplace, Amy says, “I wanted him to see how his mom is working. At the same time, I wanted him to see this cool industry. I have been giving him that opportunity which I never had at that age. It is something that I can offer him.”

Among the recent Hindi films, Amy says that she liked Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal (2023). She is also a fan of Atlee with whom she has worked in the past in Theri (2016). Moving on, she wishes to work with directors Sukumar and Prashanth Neel, who are known for making big-budget actioners like Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 (2019) and KGF: Chapter 1 (2018) and Chapter 2 (2022), respectively. Along with that, she would also like to be part of a Karan Johar film someday.

Amy believes that she has come a long way in the industry. She finds herself evolved as an actor, after the kind of people she has managed to work with. She says, “Working with the likes of Shankar, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, cinematographer PC Sreeram and others changed me as an actor.”