Spotlight

Samyukta Varma
Bingo at first try

Appearing on the cover of a Malayalam periodical proved lucky for her and before long, Samyukta Varma managed to conquer the film industry with her very first film...

When her photograph appeared on the cover of one of the leading periodicals in Malayalam, Samyukta Varma, an ordinary college student, least expected it to lead to all this. It’s catapulted her into a sought-after actress on the silver screen.

The magcover caught the trained eye of director Sathyan Anthikkad and scriptwriter-director Lohita Das. Sathyan who was all set to shoot a film based on Lohi’s script, found his heroine smiling at him from the cover. Having found their lady, the rest was easy.

They managed to convince her into doing the role quite easily. Films were not a totally strange field to the teenager, for her aunt, Oormila Unni, is an established artiste in Malayalam films.

With the encouragement of her aunt and parents, Samyukta soon overcame her diffidence before the moviecam, and literally conquered the Malayalam film scene with her performance in her very first film. She has become a success overnight, and the filmmakers seem eager to sign her on.

Samyukta Varma began her career, playing a village girl who is forced to support her family, doing all sorts of odd jobs for a living. During her job as a door-to-door salesgirl, she happens to meet a playwright and director of an amateur theatre group. Impressed with the girl, he decides to make her the heroine in his new play. He persuades her into taking up the assignment, offering her a good remuneration and she readily accepts.

Eventually, during the rehearsals and the staging of the play, the two fall in love and get married. The youth’s wealthy family is furious and he is thrown out of their house. The couple struggle to make a living. Finally the boy’s parents come to their senses and accept them. Samyukta’s role was so convincing that she actually seemed to live the character.

In director Mohan’s film, Samyukta played the music teacher who is posted to a remote village school. Being the breadwinner of the family, she is forced to take up the job. She gets trapped in a hotel on her way home on a school vacation for no fault of hers. In this role, too, Samyukta displayed her exemplary acting skills.

Samyukta Varma, no doubt, is a talent to watch out for. She can be a real asset to the industry. Her endurance, however, will depend entirely on the roles she selects for herself. With a little care, she is sure to remain at the top slot for quite some time.

Samyukta Varma, a degree student at Thrishur’s Kerala Varma College, began learning dance at a very tender age, and had her arangettam at the tender age of seven. The training is probably what gives her the ability to display emotions without strain. She says at first she found everything in on the sets amazing. It took some time for her to become composed and get used to the fact that she was indeed an actress.

She knows the career isn’t likely to last forever. She wants to continue studying and do a kindergarten training course. She’s resolved on taking up teaching as a career after she quits acting. Samyukta wants to stay in acting as long as she is wanted and has meaningful roles to play. “I will never cling on longer than I’m needed,” she says. For after she gives up the greasepaint and the arclights, she hopes to become a “boring, contended housewife.”

R Parameswaran