Malayalam dialogues give me panic attacks: Seema Biswas

During her school days, Seema Biswas used to often travel in buses alone. Being a timid, quiet girl, she never initiated conversations with anyone. However, people sharing seats with her would often steal a glance or two at Seema and ask in Hindi, ‘Where are you from? Are you a Malayali?’
She felt a bit odd about it as a little girl. “It was an oft-repeated exercise for me to speak back in our native language, introducing myself as one among them,” says the Bandit Queen fame National Award winning actress.
Seema was in Trivandrum recently to shoot Australian director Paul Cox’s next film Force of Destiny. “Paul Cox has been a joy to work with. He approached me for the project saying that there is this small, yet prominent role in his next project that is based on his life experiences, for which he would like to cast me. He gave me the script, asked to read it and get back to him. I read it and just loved it,” says the actress.
Meanwhile, Seema has acted in three Malayalam projects so far — Jayaraj’s Shantham that went on to win the best feature film award in 2001, Sanjeev Sivan’s critically acclaimed film Venal Odungathe, and Pramod Payyannur’s recent Mammootty-starrer Balyakalasakhi.
“Every time I complete a Malayalam project, I tell myself — this is the last; I have had enough of struggling with this language. However, I kept coming back here, as it has great scripts and stories. I still remember vividly the days spent shooting Shaantam. Apart from the language, it was such a wonderful episode in my career.
Jayaraj, one of the best directors I have worked with, knew quite well how actors are to be dealt with. He was always clear about what he wants from them. He would quietly, peacefully take shots at 6 am and also finish a film in six to 12 days,” recalls Seema.
She explains that lengthy dialogues in Malayalam give her panic attacks. “In Jayaraj’s film, there weren’t many. In other films, there were quite a few, which made me really nervous. I even felt I would die mouthing them,” she chuckles. For Balyakalasakhi, Seema was initially briefed that her character would speak Hindi. “Later, they found that historically the role has Tamil connections and I had to learn Tamil dialogues. I was quite scared and felt like running away! But Mammootty was very helpful,” she recalls.
Seema has acted with Mohanlal as well, in Ram Gopal Varma’s Company. So what is her equation with the Big Ms? “Oh God, I am really scared. Mammootty, for instance, has this reputation of being extremely professional. I too take my work quite seriously, but being around such an actor did give me the jitters,” says Seema. She is however, in touch with her first Malayali co-star — footballer I M Vijayan! “Whenever in Kerala, I give him a call and we have a hearty chat,” she reveals.
Seema will be seen next in Rahul Dholakia’s Society, with with veterans like Randhir Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia and Om Puri; Ranjit Kapoor’s Jai Ho Democracy and an American film based on women trafficking. a