Channelling Her Emotional Weight Was Challenging: Poornima Indrajith On Her Role In Thuramukham

Poornima Indrajith has been receiving unanimous praise for her intense portrayal of Umma in Rajeev Ravi’s recently released Thuramukham. But when she was initially approached for the film, Poornima was doubtful whether she could pull it off. She says, “When we learn about characters and the situations they have been in, we get to know that they have been through a process that one cannot even fathom. As someone living in this generation, I had to portray on screen the different stages of pain that a character from a different generation has been through."

Set against the backdrop of early to mid 20th century Mattancherry, the film based on actual events had Poornima giving it her all as the mother of the protagonist Moidu played by Nivin Pauly. She is happy that she was able to do justice to a character so different from her own. She adds, “All the characters in the movie are recreating a particular time. After acting for two days, as an actor, you are naturally dragged into that world.”For her role, Poornima underwent extensive preparations, both physical and emotional. This included spending time with many women from Mattancherry who lived in the same time frame as the characters did in the movie. 

Elaborating further on the challenges she faced to become Umma, she says, “Channelling her emotional weight was most challenging. That is where I had the most self-doubt. But one thing that I understood is that irrespective of the time, the trauma that any woman has to undergo weighs them down.” 

Poornima also reiterated the faith she and the rest of the team of Thuramukham had in the movie. She says, “Everyone who was part of the film has done their role with clarity. They were clear on what this movie was going to be. This includes everyone who has worked behind the scenes and in front of it. I would not call it belief in the commercial aspect of the film, but the belief was more in the honesty and hard work of those who worked in the film.”