Lakshmi has always been a star. She was already ruling the South film industry when I was just a teenager. The first time I saw her was when I was shooting for my second film, and we’d gone to see one of her films, starring Anant [Nag]. It was at a theatre in Bengaluru, and Lakshmi was also there. At that time, I wasn’t even someone who thought I’d have a career in films. I saw her from afar and was in awe of her. All the stories I had heard of her fascinated me. In my mind, she became larger than life. She has always inspired me, to say the least,” says actor, thespian and poet Padmavati Rao.
Hence, when she was presented with a ‘dream opportunity’ to share the screen with Lakshmi in the recently released Tamil-language limited series Sweet Kaaram Coffee, Rao didn’t think twice. “It was such a pleasure. She made me so comfortable. When someone of her stature opens her arms and embraces your vulnerabilities, it makes for a wonderful experience,” Rao adds.
A comedy-drama series that explores the lives of three women from various generations of the same family, as they set off on a road trip together, much to the chagrin of the men in their lives, Sweet Kaaram Coffee features Rao in a pivotal role. “A lot does revolve around Deva [Rao’s character]. Her presence is already felt before she is even first seen on screen. I think that also enticed me. They wanted Deva’s reveal to be shrouded in mystery. I think they managed to achieve that because a lot of people called me to say that they didn’t expect that turn of events,” Rao adds.
A veteran of theatre, Rao says she found the project exciting due to its intriguing themes and the depth of her character. “I found it rather interesting. It’s a women-centric narrative that looks at the other half of the population in a slightly newer way. It is more accepting of all those things that women would not talk of earlier. In conservative households, even today, it is difficult for women to say some of the most ordinary things,” she says, adding, “Deva is graceful, patient, and understanding, but not to a superhuman extent. She’s very human in all her aspects. That’s one of the things that was alluring about this project.”
But despite her initial excitement, Rao had reservations about taking up the role due to her unfamiliarity
with Tamil. “I think they heard of me because of my work in theatre. But I kept saying to them that maybe they shouldn’t cast me because I don’t speak Tamil. It will be quite a process, and I’ll need someone to coach me. It’s very important to understand what you’re saying, to get the depth and the emotion right. I can’t just say words and emote. But they assured me that I’d have a coach at all times, so that was good,” she explains, however she was disappointed that the she could not dub for her role in other languages. “I was most surprised because I speak Kannada, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English. If they wanted French, I could still do it (laughs). But the producers say that it wasn’t in their hands,” she adds.