Winning Combinations-Meera Jasmine

Winning combinations

Meera Jasmine considers the possibility of winning awards before she accepts offers in Malayalam films, writes KK Moidu

Meera Jasmine appeared in run-of-the-mill roles in other language films, but on home turf, she has never made her presence felt in commercial potboilers.
Meera Jasmine, a simple girl from Thiruvalla in Kerala, is famous in the South for working in all the four South Indian language films, ie. Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Although she is one of the busiest heroines, she accepts offers from Malayalam cinema directors who are known for making award winning films.
Meera's forthcoming films Calcutta News directed by Blessy and Ore Kadal directed by Shyamaprasad is in this genre.
Calcutta News, to be entirely picturised in Calcutta, is making news as it is her fifth screen appearance with Dilip. Meera plays the role of a singer in the film while Dilip is a TV producer; the story of the film revolves around the happenings in his life. Like his earlier films, director Blessy himself does the screenplay.
Blessy proved his talent in his previous films Kaazcha and Thanmathra but could not succeed in getting a hat-trick with his last venture Palunk.
Blessy wants to regain his lost status in the industry with Calcutta News. As a first step, he has selected Meera Jasmine as the heroine. In films directed by him earlier, the heroine was played by newcomers and male leads were handled by senior actors like Mammootty and Mohanlal.
In Ore Kadal directed by Shyamaprasad, Meera Jasmine is acting opposite superstar Mammootty for the first time. He plays an internationally acclaimed economist, Dr Nathan, who lives a lonely life and never believes in long lasting relationships.
Meera Jasmine plays Deepthi, a housewife, who lives in a flat close to Nathan. She lives with her husband, a marketing officer in an insurance company. Deepthi immediately develops a fancy for Dr Nathan and realises that they have much in common between them, including the same emotional strains. That brings them together and a mature romance develops between them. The script of the film is by the director Shyamaprasad himself.
Meera's much delayed Rathrimazha is directed by famed director Lenin Rajendran, a film-maker who always gives importance to female artistes. Lenin has featured Meera Jasmine in a dominant role in the film. She plays opposite Vineeth in the film which is much talked about for its dance and music.
Ramesh Narayan won the last year State Award for the best music director and singers Sujatha Mohan and Srinivas got the female and male singers awards for the songs in the film.
National Award winning actress Meera Jasmine was born on Feb.15, 1984 in Kuttappuzha, Thiruvalla in Kerala. Born as Jasmine Mary Joseph to Joseph and Aleyamma, the Syrian Christian by birth completed her schooling in Mar Thoma Residential School, Thiruvalla.
Meera Jasmine was not born into a family of actors. Nobody encouraged her to act or dance during her school days. Like other heroines she is not a 'Kalathilakam' or a model. Before her entry into films, nobody noticed her talent. She was attracted to the industry and accepted a film offer against her father's wishes.
Meera joined the industry without much expectations of success. She was ready to go back to her studies if her film did not do well, but the amazing response she received after her debut made her choose acting as her career.
Meera made her debut in the Malayalam film Soothradharan in 2001 directed by Lohitha Das. Her debut film bombed at the box office, but that did not affect her career. She has starred in a dozen Malayalam films in her six-year career and the movies is made on home turf is different from the films made in other languages.
After her foray into other language films her presence in Malayalam films has been limited. For the last three years, Meera was doing one Malayalam film each year. Rasathanthram in 2006, Achuvinte Amma in 2005 and Perumazhakkalam in 2004. Her role in Perumazhakkalam won her State Award for the best actress and Vanitha-Chandrika Award. Her performance in Achuvinte Amma won her Filmfare and Lux-Asianet Film Award for best actress.
All her Malayalam films were noticed for different reasons. She was repeatedly casted by same directors in their movies. Her debut Soothradharan was directed by her mentor Lohitha Das and he completed a hat-trick by casting her in Kasthooriman and Chakram. Her performance in Kasthooriman selected her for Lux-Asianet Film Award for Best Actress.
Lohitha Das never repeated heroines in his earlier films. In Bhoothakkannadi Sreelakshmi was the heroine, Divya Unni played the female lead in Karunyam and in Kanmadam Manju Warrier played the heroine role.
Meera played female leads in three Kamal directed films Gramaphone, Swapnakoodu and Perumazhakkalam.
Sathyan Anthikkad casted Meera as a heroine in his earlier films Achuvinte Amma and Rasathanthram. Meera played a boy's role in the first half of Rasathanthram and it was noticed by her first screen appearance with Mohanlal. Sathyan completed hat-trick by repeatedly casting Meera as a heroine in latest film Vinodhayathra.
Although Meera has appeared four times opposite Dilip, none of their films became a box office hit. But Sathyan Anthikad's latest Vinodhayathra, where Meera played Dilip's female lead, was a success.
In Paadam Onnu Oru Vilapam directed by veteran TV Chandran, Meera fetched the prestigious National Best Actress Award. She portrayed a 15 year old Muslim girl Shahina and won the nations greatest recognition of an actress at the age of 22 by defeating experienced and efficient contenders. She also won the Filmfare Award, Mathrubhumi-Medimix Award and Lux-Asianet Film Award for best actress for her portrayal of Shahina in Paadam Onnu Oru Vilaapam.
Meera's Tamil film entry made her a well-known star in the South. The success of Tamil films Run and Bala in 2002 give her the chance to work with popular actors of the Tamil industry. She won the Filmfare Best Female debut actress award for Run. The success of the films lead her to work with famed directors like Mani Ratnam's Aayudha Ezhuthu and SS Stanley's Mercury Pookkal.
Meera has acted in more than ten Tamil films. Her recent Tamil film Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram, with Dhanush as her male lead was a hit. In her forthcoming film Nepali, she is the love interest of Bharath.
Meera Jasmine has not only showed her presence in the Telugu films in 2004 with Ammayi Bagundi and Gudumba Shankar but also entered Kannada cinema by co-starring with Puneet Rajkumar in Mourya. Her latest Kannada film Arrasu is also a hit.
Meera's biggest Telugu hit was Bhadra with Ravi Teja in the male lead. Her other Telugu films are Raraju, Maharadhi Kalyani and upcoming film Yamagola Malli, she is the female lead of Srikant.
Meera was lucky enough to perform in a variety of roles and she played ordinary characters seen in our day-to-day life. She wants to be a part of good cinema, earning money is not only her aim.
Although Meera is not fluent in other languages, her Tamil and Telugu films are dubbed by her as she believes that acting will be incomplete if the voice is different.
Meera is a lover of Ilayaraja's music and many of his songs are known to her by heart.
Along with fame, Meera has been bothered by controversies and gossip — property matters with her parents, being born in a Christian family and her visits to Hindu temples and an affair with SJ Surya, after her pairing with him in Thirumagan.
Although Lohithadas is her mentor, she refused to act in his films like Chakkaramuthu. The heroine role was later played by Kavya Madhavan opposite Dilip. The film didn't do well at the box office. Meera recently rejected another offer from Lohitha Das to play the heroine role in Nivedhyam. He is introducing a new heroine to the industry through this film. The lucky girl is Rakitha aka Bhama from Kottayam. She is an anchor of 'Thali' airing on Surya TV.
Will Lohitha Das's new discovery Bama become a competitor to Meera in the future, or Bhama will also shift her base to other languages for more lucrative offers like her seniors? Only time will tell.