Phallavi and Arpit as Yashodara and Siddhartha
Marati star Phallavi Subash who plays the female lead in Yashodara, a film based on Prince Siddhartha’s wife, attended the Colombo premier of ‘Bimba Devi alias Yashodara’ recently.
The actress told the media that the Sinhala film, made by director, lyricist and university don Sunil Ariyaratne marks the biggest turning point in her showbiz career. “When I met Sunil Sir and his team it was the ‘wow moment’ in my life. I was born a Hindu, did not know about Buddhism, had no knowledge of Sinhala, nor did I know about the Sri Lankan film industry, and playing the character of Prince Siddhartha’s wife became a huge challenge for me. I had no idea how the director found me for the role of Yashodara, but I am totally happy how things have worked for me.”
The Maharashtrian model turned actress who started her career on Marathi stage and went into acting in films and TV shows said: “I had to attend several workshops to develop the character and I also did lot of research on Yashodara by reading Hindi books. I had never tackled such an important character in my career and I thank Sunil Sir for trusting me to play the lead role in the twenty second film of his illustrious career.”
Saying that it was a huge challenge to concentrate on delivering dialogues in a language unknown to her, Phallvai said she had lot of help from Sinhala and Hindi language experts. “I did not need glycerin to induce tears due to highly emotional nature of the character of the woman whose husband leaves her on the day a new baby was born, in search of Truth for the larger benefit of the world. But I needed sometime for me to cry natural tears after getting into my comfort zone. Sunil Sir was quite cooperative and happy with my approach and allowed me time and space to be myself on the sets. The entire production team was like a part of a close-knit family.”
Mumbai-born Phallavi made her debut in 2005 in the Marathi film Kunku Zale Vairi and was nominated for the ‘Best Actress Zee Gaurav Award’ for her performance. This was followed by Aaila Re!! in 2006. She was away from films for sometime and made a come back after seven years with three Marathi projects, Asa Me Tashi Tu, Premasutra and Dhava Dhava Khun Khun. She is the only Marathi actress to work in southern language films in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. She was romantically linked to popular Marathi star Aniket Vishwasarao and known to have refused to play characters in 23 movies during the intense media attention to her love affair, probably making her take a long break from her career.
Arpit Chowdry who plays the role of Prince Siddhartha is an Indian model-turned actor, known for TV series ‘Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi’ with uncredited roles in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. The six-foot-three inch hulk has appeared on the catwalks in India, England and America and has also dabbled in the British theatre. Prof. Ariyarathne had spotted Arpit at a Mumbai shopping mall while he was in India looking for lead stars for his film.
Some local critics have questioned director’s choice of actors from India while there is enough home grown talent in Sri Lanka. Prof. Ariyarathne said in a media interview at the launch of the film that the producers wanted two fresh faces to play the most important characters in Buddhism. The Sri Lankan stars are too familiar to our film fans and they may also have run into typecast issues.
Givantha Arthasad, critic and art teacher, while reviewing Yashodara said that according to his research in old paintings the two North Indian actors retain physical characteristics similar to the communities living in the days of the Buddha. According to history, the ancestors of Sinhala people have come from northern India but he argues that over the years we have developed distinct physical differences due to the nature of the climate and mixed marriages.
