Talented actor Suchitra Pillai is psyched up about her forthcoming film Cold Case, which is set to premiere on June 30 on the leading streaming media platform Amazon Prime Video. It will mark her second film in her mother tongue Malayalam.
The actor said that she was happy when director Tanu Balak told her that she was his first and only choice to play Zaara Zakai, a clairvoyant who is an integral part of solving the murder mystery in the film.
“Tanu Balak during the shoot said he has always foreseen me doing this role, which is great for any actor to hear... that you are not just a replacement for anybody else. When they see you in a character, it means you can be believable in it. The film is in Malayalam, I was happy to get back to my Malayali roots,” the Ernakulam-born actor told a newswire.
Billed as an investigative crime thriller with supernatural elements, Cold Case also stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Aditi Balan, Anil Nedumangad, and Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli in important roles.
Besides being a familiar face in films, television and theatre, Pillai is also a singer and voice artiste who has done the dubbing for Maggie Gyllenhaal in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and Cate Blanchett in Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok in the Hindi versions of these blockbusters.
When it came to Cold Case, she wanted to do her own dubbing for the film despite not being very fluent in Malayalam. “I don't speak pure Malayalam but when it came to the dubbing of the film, I told Tanu 'Please don't lose Zaara with somebody else. Can I please do my own dubbing?' I am so happy he agreed,” Pillai added.
She worked on the pronunciation thanks to her aunt and cousin. "They recorded my dialogues and I would listen to them before going for the shoot.”
After Cold Case, Suchitra Pillai will move on to shoot the second season of the acclaimed Amazon Prime Video show, Made in Heaven. “There is Made in Heaven 2, I will start shooting for that soon. There is another Amazon project as well,” she signs off.
