JOIN US'Nothing lasts forever'
Actress Lissy was all over the TV and big screen in Kerala in the 1980s. She was, in fact, the common thread going through most of the best films those years.
But she threw it all away when the most coveted role of her life came her way — that of becoming director Priyadarshan’s wife.
Two and a half decades after she quit acting during which she raised two children and concentrated on the family business, Lissy says she is as content and happy as she can be. “I may not be in front of the camera but I am still in touch with cinema in some way or the other.
Cinema is my world and it has made me what I am today. How can I forsake it and move on?” Lissy tells Metrolife.
Lissy is one of the owners of the ‘Kerala Strikers’ team for the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) and she is as nervous as she is excited when she talks about her team’s performance in the CCL. “This is the first time that a Kerala team is playing.
Most actors in the Malayalam film industry have proved their mettle on screen but they wanted to prove the same in the CCL as well. This is visible in the long, hard and dedicated practice sessions. I admire their determination to lift the cup,” Lissy observes.
She points out that the CCL has given artistes from across different film industries an opportunity to break the ice. “We never knew that there were so many actors in the Bengali film industry. We’re competitors only on the cricket field, off it we’re as close and friendly as we can be,” she says. “We play and party just as hard,” she adds.
About her favourite co-star and the person – Mohanlal – she respects most in the film industry, she says, “I don’t think it’s just the Malayalam film industry, Mohanlal is a name to reckon with in the Indian cinema. The kind of love and respect he commands wherever he goes is unimaginable.” She adds, “At his age, he gets onto the field and plays with people half his age.
That’s the kind of support he lends,” she says. What is the one big thing Lissy has learnt being a part of the cinema industry? “As long as you are successful, you are important but as soon as you step down, you are an ordinary person and can’t expect the same treatment. Nothing lasts forever, neither joy nor sadness. Never let success get to your head,” she says. She adds that this has been her biggest lesson.
And as Priyadarshan’s wife, Lissy says, “He’s my husband and father of my children. He never behaves like a director at home. We don’t talk about cinema and I have never seen him be overjoyed after the success of a film or slip into depression when a film flops. He’s
balanced,” she says.
Lissy says that it’s because Priyadarshan has given her enough space and freedom that she doesn’t feel the urge to return to cinema. “I don’t feel stifled and am totally content,” she says.
Very few people also know that Lissy has done a Kannada film Ashwamedha with Kumar Bangarappa. “I was pampered on the sets of the film. I could not speak a word of Kannada and still can’t but the love and respect I got was amazing,” she says about her spell in Sandalwood.