Romah Assrani: Many told me that people will forget me if I take such long breaks

Right from the time she debuted in Malayalam movies 12 years ago, velleppam has been Romah’s favourite in Kerala cuisine. We saw her last in the 2017 release Sathya and as she returns to the industry after two years, she stars in a movie titled Velleppam, starring Akshay Radhakrishnan in the lead. The actress, who plays a velleppam stall owner in the film, vivaciously tells us more about the break, the controversies surrounding her last film and more:
Where were you in the past two years?
Well, I was right here in our own country (laughs).Though born and brought up in Chennai, I have been settled in Bengaluru for the past six years and during the break too, I was enjoying the amazing Bengaluru life. Moreover, I was deeply into yet another interest of mine – mystic sciences like vastu, numerology and astrology. They are subjects that I always wanted to learn in detail. As for numerology, I follow a guru in the US from whom I study through Skype. I also did a lot of self-study. The spelling of my name also stands changed, now it is Romah Asranni. I follow a guru in Gujarat for vastu.
At the same time, I was also travelling a lot and doing stage shows in places like Qatar, Muscat and Dubai with Malayalam actors. For instance, two months ago, I was in Muscat for Jagathi Sreekumar chettan’s first comeback international appearance show.
I did have a few offers, but I didn’t find them very convincing. As someone who listens only to my heart, I felt I rather not sign them. Many did tell me, ‘Romah don’t take such a long break, people will forget you.’ But I felt, ‘Let them, that’s ok. I will come back one day.’
Why did you take up Velleppam?
I had finished my previous film Sathya in November 2016. Exactly three years later, this film’s director Praveen called offering this project. My first question to him was, how did he think of me, I thought everyone might have forgotten me. I have no social media accounts – the existing ones in my name are all fake. I haven’t given any interviews or made TV appearances for long. Then he said, ‘I just felt that I should give you a call.’ I felt it was a God-sent role.
Then, he narrated the story and my character. When he said the name of the film, I asked, ‘Did you know velleppam is my favourite, by any chance? (laughs).
For some reason, I could never bring myself to try puttu and kadala curry, though my mom loves it. I always preferred appam and idiyappam. Now, I get to learn the tricks of making velleppam from the experts at the angadi. We sit in the main road and make appams, which is an art in itself. But, as I am on a diet, I don’t get to taste much!
What’s your character like?
Yet again, it is a Christian character. I guess Malayalis feel I look the part of a Christian girl very much, right? Be it in Notebook, Chocolate or Minnaminnikoottam, I played Christian characters. In this film too, my name is Sara. She is a naughty character, and owns a popular velleppam stall in Velleppam Angadi of Thrissur. She is the heartthrob of the area and youngsters too frequent the stall for this reason. She is the sister of Akshay’s character. The film is a light-hearted romcom.
The song Chilankakal Tholkkum in your film Sathya was massively trolled for the mismatch between music and visuals; your role as a bar dancer and more…
In the film, I had the character of a bar dancer in a Pondicherry dance club. As actors, we can’t interfere in the kind of music used, right? The dance was choreographed by Kala master and I feel we gave it our best. Personally, nobody told me anything against doing this character either.
When I came to know about the trolls, initially, I also felt why wasn’t a song with the feel of a bar dance used for this situation. But later, I could see that with all the trolling, it was getting good views anyway. If at all the song was made in the ideal way, this is what we finally aim for, anyway, so, it’s all good.
I wasn’t affected by the trolling at all. I took up the role as it was an important character in a thriller film, which also had those like Jayaramettan. It might not have worked critically or commercially, but that isn’t something I have any control over. The audience determine the results. All we can do as actors is enjoy the role and give our best.