Lena Will Also Act In The Film, She Co-wrote With First-time Director Vs Abhilash
Among the issues actor Lena did throughout lockdown was attend on-line filmmaking programs and workshops. It resulted in her writing the primary draft of a script she intends to make into a movie someday later. However, one other she co-wrote with debutant director/author VS Abhilash — Olam — goes on the flooring in August.
Rather than “brood and focus on the negativity [during the pandemic and lockdown], I did constructive things. This (writing) was an escape into fantasy. I am a workaholic. If not for all of this I would have driven myself up the wall,” she says of the issues she did throughout the lockdown.
The Olam script just isn’t her first with Abhilash; the primary one they wrote collectively can’t be made as a result of pandemic and restrictions. He had initially approached her with an concept for that movie. Seeing her curiosity within the script and listening to her inputs, Abhilash requested if she can be interested by creating the script with him. As it developed, they realised it couldn’t be completed now and as a substitute labored on the thread for Olam. “We worked in sync…most of the writing was done over phone and video calls,” she says.
“Olam is a cute little story, a horror-comedy, with five characters including Arjun Ashokan and me. It has a small cast and crew and does not need too many locations either. It is a psychological drama and comedy… it depends on your perception. The comedy is situational and the approach to horror is psychological. If people cannot sleep and they get nightmares, then it would have worked,” Lena says laughing. Getting actor Harisree Ashokan, Arjun’s father, to behave as his father was a casting coup for the group.
One of the few actors who’ve been busy regardless of the lockdown, Lena wrapped dubbing for Article 21 the day earlier than the lockdown began. With time on her palms, she did a three-month schedule of panchakarma remedy, “Article 21 was gruelling physically. I had booked myself for a three-week treatment which got extended.” She performs a ragpicker with two kids within the movie. Lena may even be seen in Aadujeevitham.
After restrictions have been eased, she headed to the UK to movie Footprints on Water, directed by Nathalia Syam. Her co-stars on the challenge are Adil Hussain and Nimisha Sajayan. She obtained caught there when Britain went right into a lockdown. “Every adversity is a blessing in disguise…I was there with an awesome group of filmmakers. I got to learn so much. Nathalia is younger than me, but I see her as a mentor.”
Having been an actor for 20-odd years, she has not confined herself to that function. A vlogger, she now provides life coach and author to the checklist. Another challenge she believes strongly in, ‘Realize With Lena’, the place she coaches folks within the self-actualisation of their targets can also be conserving Lena busy. She is at the moment designing a five-step course within the topic which she believes will assist folks transfer past self-realisation.
“This is the result of my work of 20 years, I have always been interested in the subject. As an influencer and someone with a degree in clinical psychology, I feel I should share tools that will help people. With lockdown, I had the time to reflect and work on it,” says Lena, who can also be writing a guide.
Lena considers herself lucky for the way issues have panned out regardless of the pandemic and lockdown. It is the manifestation of her want to be on the proper place on the proper time. “That is what I have always wanted.”
