2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Lights, Camera,Dream! Actor Meenakshi Jayan on winning Shanghai International Film Festival award
Dreamers become realists when they act on their dreams. For actor Meenakshi Jayan, dreaming of a career in films and finally standing on the Shanghai International Film Festival stage, holding the Golden Goblet Award for Best Actress and thanking the audience in Chinese, was the moment when dreams became reality. Many would be familiar with her voice as Dia from the popular Malayalam movie Aanandam. But now, her face is equally familiar, with her debut role in Victoria gaining international acclaim with this award. 'It was very unexpected. I froze for a second when they announced my name. It was the same stage and trophy, even the same regal feeling I dreamt of. I am such a crazy dreamer. I want to do a lot. This is just the beginning,' she shares.
Jayan, who often visits Bengaluru, calls it her comfort space where she finds an escape from the chaos of life. 'Bengaluru is my comfort space where I can be happy and do anything. No one asks me anything; I'll be inside a cute apartment and just live my life slowly here,' she shares. She also frequented the city a lot while trying to get her big break, backed by nothing but her passion. 'As a child, I was always told that I was unattractive. I was always backstage, writing scripts or dubbing for actors. In college, I started feeling confident in my body and decided to be an actor. I worked in ad films as an Assistant Director and did small dubbing gigs to earn money. I used to save this money to attend online acting workshops – it gave me the initial education about acting,' she says. Actors Shobana and Shah Rukh Khan were her early idols.
