By the time we meet Ummachi in Akhil Sathyan’s Paachuvum Albuthavilakkum, enough has been said to create some mystery around her. This is the woman Fahadh Faasil’s character has to accompany on a train journey – a 71-year-old who, for some reason, refuses to take a plane to Mumbai to meet her son. When she appears on screen, there is the immediate effect of seeing a refreshing face with untellable expressions, making you wonder about her. You will wonder more when you find out about Viji Venkatesh, the actor who played Ummachi.
Looking up Viji Venkatesh will give you pages about her long professional career working with cancer patients. She has authored books and has been holding a fundraiser campaign called ‘Chai for Cancer’ for 10 years. She is probably the most unlikely candidate to suddenly take up acting and play an all-important character in a Malayalam film. But the watchful eyes of a casting director, and if you ask Viji, the universe itself, somehow brought her to the movies at the age of 71.
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“I have been involved in cancer care for the last 36 years. I primarily work in cancer prevention, cancer awareness, and (anti-)tobacco counselling. For the last 22 years, I have been working with The Max Foundation as their Regional Head for South Asia. My primary work is to convince pharma companies to donate drugs at low cost to patients who don’t have access to reimbursement or insurance,” Viji says while adding modestly that she is doing a job that she gets paid for.
That is why, she says, she was taken aback when she got a call from Gayathri Smitha (the vigilant casting director we mentioned).
Viji told Gayathri about her full-time job, and how she had never dreamt of acting in a film. But Gayathri convinced her to meet the director Akhil Sathyan in Mumbai, on a Sunday. Mumbai has been Viji’s home for many years now. Though her parents are from Kerala, Viji has lived elsewhere most of her life, visiting the ancestral land for the summer holidays. Her Malayalam was accented and this was the first thing she told Akhil. But he assured her that he would help her.
Viji with Akhil Sathyan
“The reason I took this up is Akhil – seeing how passionate and committed he was. I cried when I heard the story. And there was going to be Vineeth, an actor I adore (who plays her son in the film), and Fahadh Faasil. Opportunities like these don’t come to people of my age,” Viji says.
Viji and Fahadh
She worked hard to prepare. Akhil sent her all her lines as voice messages, recording them with the emotion he wanted from her. She listened to them during her morning walks (“I am a fitness freak”), and during her four and a half hours of commute every day in Mumbai. Akhil also had a woman in her neighbourhood – Rajam – check her pronunciation.
“Still I made mistakes. In one scene where Vineeth and my characters are speaking, I cried without glycerin because I was making so many mistakes. Then Vineeth would take my hands and tell me, Didi, it happens to everyone, don’t worry about it. He comforted me with so much love. I met so many beautiful people – Momi (MK Mohanan) the still photographer, all the ADs (Assistant Directors) – Aaron, Rajeev, Vandana, Theertha, the cinematographer Sharan, the makeup artist Pandian who begrudgingly allowed me to use some kajal in my eyes,” Viji shares, laughing.
Viji and Vineeth
Pandian’s argument was that Ummachi was an old woman and she wouldn’t use kajal. But Viji said she was an old woman too and she did use it. There were quite a few similarities between Ummachi and Viji. She loves bread omelets and wore pink shoes under her Saris, like Viji. One difference, she says in a conspiratorial tone, is that she wears sleeveless blouses and has two tattoos that Ummachi doesn’t have. “Another difference is that when I travel, I take a lot of luggage,” Viji says laughing.
She would need to (take a lot of luggage), for even on the sets she was working on her cancer care job, not taking a single off. After her scenes, she would sit with her laptop and phone and catch up on routine work. It is something she loves doing, she says, helplessly like a true workaholic. She, therefore, relates to another character in the film, played by the late actor Innocent, who is shown to be tech-savvy in his advanced years.
Viji and her husband Venky
It was to her a precious moment, meeting Innocent, who was vocal about his cancer. Innocent, as a Member of Parliament, had pressed the same matter Viji works for – making cancer treatment affordable to the commoner. He wrote a book about facing cancer with a smile. But Viji was an admirer even otherwise, having watched his movies. In a video that Akhil took of their meeting, Viji can be seen helplessly laughing, too excited to meet the actor.
“It was so much fun, meeting Innocent Sir and [his wife] Alice chechi. Alice chechi asked me about my children and I said I have two. She then asked “Married?” and Innocent sir quipped, “What kind of question is that? She has two children, of course, she is married.” We all laughed so much. I can’t believe he is no more,” Viji says.
She also took a trip to Anthikad to meet Akhil’s family but missed seeing his famous father, filmmaker Sathyan Anthikad. She loves Malayalam cinema, she says, and would like to act more if opportunities come.
Viji can’t stop thanking Akhil for changing her life. Acting at this age has made her 96-year-old mother Lalitha Ramakrishnan happy. It has excited her teenage grandchildren. Although she finds it a little awkward to watch herself on the screen, Viji has watched Paachu five times already and was ready to go for the sixth time as we spoke.