Karthika Nair, considered the princess of the Tamil industry, is all set to captivate the Hindi television audience as Aarambh’s Devasena, who has no similarity with the one in Baahubali. By Angela Paljor
Everything in popular culture seems to be referenced around Baahubali these days considering it is a money-spinning brand in itself. So when a television series — incidentally written by the film’s author KV Vijendra Prasad and featuring a protagonist by the name of Devasena — was launched, speculation was rife that it was a spinoff. Its title Aarambh made people want to know if it was a prequel of some sort. Turns out it is just a smart sales pitch. As Karthika Nair, who plays the protagonist, clarifies, “Except for the name and the fact that both are princesses, there is no similarity between the two. I even asked Prasad sir and he said he repeated the name in the TV series because he felt it was powerful and was in love with it. While Baahubali’s Devasena is seen as part of a bigger story and is seen fighting for a limited period, the character I am playing is of a proper warrior who transitions from being a princess to a queen of a matriarchal clan.” She leads her Dravidian people and army against the might of the invading Aryans and the script skirts round Game of Thrones territory with an Indian tweak.
She adds, “People will be in for a treat as the film hardly develops the character of Devasena. My Devasena has a wide ranging arc, is organic and well-rounded in her personality. It is a deep character study of a woman who wields power and knows how to keep it.”
With Aarambh, Nair has made an abrupt shift from the Tamil film industry to the Hindi television industry. Born to a noted film family and having worked alongside prominent directors, we ask her why she made the crossover via mainstream television. She refutes the question, saying, “It is not a transition; I am not going to stop acting in films even though I have done just a few of them. I was born and brought up in Mumbai. So I had no exposure to the southern film industry or my mother’s stardom as I aimed to become a hotelier like my dad. Movies just happened by chance after I had finished my tenth grade. However, I was quick enough to understand that acting is not easy. I now do a single film at a time, that too only one that is undertaken by a big banner. Initially, I refused this project because a TV series is a bigger commitment than films. I relented only when Goldieji (filmmaker Goldie Behl) told me it was a finite show and would be aired on a weekly basis. Then he narrated the script pivoted around a very strong woman. A movie takes up a year and this series only demands eight months. So I have taken this as a project and not as a transition. Hopefully Aarambh will prove that the line between films and TV series is diminishing. Besides Priyanka Chopra is doing a TV series in Hollywood. Why is a Hollywood series greater than an Indian one which has an epic scaleIJ”
Elaborating on the character of Devasena, Nair reveals, “She is the most powerful character ever written. She is bold, upright and hardly has shades of grey. Her love is centred around her kingdom and her father to whom she is very attached but is unable to call ‘Appa’ as queen. Along with action, the emotional bonding of the father and daughter is exhausting as it is performance-oriented and we have tried to make it look natural. The character is so demanding that I have to undergo rigorous training. I always end up numb after a gruelling shoot even though I have shot around four episodes.”
The trend of borrowing ideas and remaking or reinterpreting them is on the rise, with Three Idiots being remade in Tamil and Ghajini and Holiday taking off from hits down south. Baahubali has been dubbed and screened all over India. “Remaking movies is in reality respecting the idea and expressing an urge to showcase the same to different regions in their languages,” says Nair, confident of her pan-India appeal.
