Shining star

Kamalini Mukherjee makes her Malayalam film debut opposite superstar Mammootty in KUTTY SHRANKU, directed by Shaji N Karun, writes KK Moidu

Bengali beauty Kamalini won the hearts of audience by performing a tiny role in maiden Tamil venture Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. Although her expectation of the role in Kamal Hassan starrer was very high, it was only five minutes long. Her performance in the hit song Parthamudhal Nale of Haris Jayaraj won rave reviews which made her noticeable in the Tamil industry.
Kamalini was flooded with offers from Tamil film industry after Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. The only role accepted by Kamalini was that of Cheran, a homely girl with love for tradition and values in Pirivom Santhippom. But the director of the film Karu Pazhaniappan changed the heroine and Kamalini was replaced by Sneha.
The good-looking actress Kamalini established herself as a leading heroine in the Telugu industry by playing female leads in Meenakshi, Godavari, Style etc. before her entry into the Tamil film industry.
She is a graduate in English Literature and her original name is Roshni. She completed a workshop on theatre in Mumbai. Theatre artist turned model Kamalini made her acting debut in Hindi film Phir Milenge. Actor-director Revathi offered her a role in Phir Milenge by noticing the advertisement featuringg Kamalini. Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty played the lead roles in the film. Phir Milenge, the second directorial venture of Revathi revolved around the subject of AIDS. Kamalini played a RJ's role in the film as the heroine's younger sister. The film bombed at the box office and leading offers from the Hindi film industry didn't knock at her door.
Kamalini made her Telugu debut opposite Raja in Sekhar Kammula's Anand. She played the role of an independent modern woman and the movie was one of the biggest hit of the year and won half-a-dozen Nandhi Awards. She won the Best Actress Nandhi Award from the Andhra Pradesh Government. Her acting ability once again gained her the female lead in Sekhar Kammulas hit film Godawari. The stupendous success of Pellaindi Kaani, Classmates etc. which she played heroine roles made her a busy actress of the Telugu industry.
Kamalini was the love interest of power star Pawan Kalyan in Jalsa. Other two heroine roles were played by Ileana D'Cruz and Parvathi Melton. Jalsa was one of the biggest hit of the year in Telugu industry and also Pawan's career.
Kamalini plays the female lead in forthcoming Telugu film Brahmanandam Drama Company directed by E Srikanth. Sivaji, Ravi Krishna and Brahmanandam play important roles in the film. The film is a remake of Hindi film Bhagam Bhaga starring Akshay Kumar and Govinda.
However, the 28 year old actress Kamalini had enough luck to play the heroine role of megastar Mammootty in her debut Malayalam film Kutty Shranku directed by veteran craftsman Shaji N Karun.
The top ranking Malayalam actor Mammootty and the award winning director Shaji N Karun is working in the film industry for more than three decades, but they are teaming up for first time in entertaining the people in Kutty Shranku. The film tells the story of the protagonist in three different viewpoints of three women. The fourth Malayalam film of Shaji is different from his earlier art house label films Piravi, Swaham and Vanaprastham.
Kutty Shranku produced under the banner of Big Motion Pictures is the maiden Malayalam production venture of Reliance Entertainment owned by Anil Ambani. Kutty Shranku set in the early 60's tells the story of a boat driver, who runs a parcel service to and from Kodungaloor-Kollam in the back waters of Kerala. He is a freewheeler and has no home or religion. Nobody knows his whereabouts, but he has three paramour's in three places on the route and each of them have a different type of relationship with him. These three concubines were not aware about the others and meet for the first time after the mysterious death of the protagonist.
Kamalini is one of the secret lovers of the protagonist. She is the daughter of the popular Chavittu Natakam Aasan in the film. She is also the heroine of the dance drama in which Shranku, played by Mammootty, is the hero. Other two heroines, Sreelankan actress Meenakumari is a mute girl in the film and Padmapriya appears as a rich girl, but accepts Buddhism.
Mammootty plays the protagonist role in three different characters in three styles in a single movie. Mammootty will sing a Chavittu Natakam based song for the film directed by renowned director Shaji N Karun. The visual of the song which starts with Karikkutty...ente kalel, performed on screen by Mammootty and Suresh Krishna has already shot by Shaji N Karun. Isaac Thomas Kottukapally is the music director of the film, which has an entire backdrop of Chavittu Natakam — the folklore dance drama of Northern Kerala. Siddique and Rajeev Kalamasserry plays important roles in the film.
Kamalini had the luck to play an entirely different role in her debut Malayalam film opposite Mammootty. Her role in the film has ample scope for performance and the veteran director Shaji N Karun will definitely utilise her talent. But only few heroines from other states like Padmapriya continued their career in Malayalam. Others like Amrita Rao, Katrina Kaif, Parvati Melton etc. who paired opposite superstars in earlier hit films, disappeared from the Malayalam film industry after a couple of films.