‘Cinema won’t grow if it is stuck in stereotypes’
In her Bollywood debut Qarib Qarib Singlle (2017), actor Parvathy portrayed an everyday girl most contemporary Indian women would relate to. She feels Indian cinema needs more representation of such realistic characters.
“There’s a massive lack of representation in the stories told in cinema these days. We must bridge that gap so that it becomes more relatable for everyone. There are a million stories to tell and we shouldn’t get stuck in stereotypes. There is no scope of growth that way,” Parvathy said.
The film featured Parvathy as a widow, who lives alone and works at an insurance company. She meets Yogi, played by Irrfan, via a dating website. They travel together and fall for each other.
From facing the casting couch to carving a niche in the southern film industry and eventually making her way to Bollywood, Parvathy has come out stronger. “For a very long time, when someone was abused or harassed or was not given their due at work, I thought there was something wrong with them, and that they should take the blame.
There is a massive lack of representation in the stories told these days. We must bridge that gap. There are a million stories to tell and we shouldn’t get stuck in stereotypes. PARVATHY ACTOR
Rather than looking outward, I [too] went through the trauma of constantly trying to find fault with myself even when I knew I had done nothing to deserve it,” she shared.
But thanks to “people who were brave enough to share their stories and inform us that it’s not the right way”, she stopped doing that. Now, “through my craft... and by ensuring that I’m treated with respect at the workspace”, the actor shapes her own world.
She views her craft as an anthropological endeavour. “It’s a study of human beings. I hope that through cinema, women, men, and transpeople would feel strongly about challenging the status quo,” she said.