Her debut film gave her friends for life. Alphonse Puthiran and Nivin Pauly are now on speed dial for Sai Pallavi.
‘Nivin is an amazing co-star. He is honest and a best friend one dreams of having. When roles are offered to me now, I consult him whether I should take it up or not. He is so straightforward that once I asked him about a certain movie and he blatantly told me that if I took it up I would be perfect to play his mother in the next. He never really made me feel like he was this big star. Now we are more like family.’
While talking about Alphonse, she cannot help but giggle thinking about her first encounter with the ace director. While she was studying in Georgia, one day, when she was browsing Facebook, among random friend requests and messages, she stumbled upon a message from Alphonse Puthiran.
'In that message, he said that he was making a film and that he wished to cast me in it. I completely ignored it. The dance shows had happened a long time ago and I was happy doing medicine in Georgia with no intentions of doing movies at all.'
The same year, when she came to India on vacation, her mother was on a call with Alphonse Puthiran on the other side.
'I was standing next to her when I heard her say his name, and I asked to disconnect the call because I thought he was a stalker who wanted to kidnap me. He obviously heard that and very calmly asked my mother to look him up on Google and then come back to Facebook to confirm his verified account.'
Once they verified for themselves and realized he was the director of Neram, Sai Pallavi felt apologetic for behaving the way she did with him. A phone call later, Alphonse met with her at her residence to talk Premam and the rest as they say is history. All that said and done, Alphonse now is a dear friend and a guide she totally looks up to. 'Alphonse is adorable. I respect him for the passion he has for films. I wasn’t an actor, in fact I am still not one and with him it came to me naturally.'
Stay tuned for more excerpts from her interview with JFW
