The bubbly girl from Neeleswaram in Kasargode, who was first seen as a child-artist in films like Pookkaalam Varavayi, Azhagiya Ravanan, Oraal Mathram etc, has now blossomed into one of the finest actresses in the Malayalam film industry. Kavya Madhavan, who had earlier delivered sensitive performances in films like Mizhirandilum, Perumazhakalam, Anandabhadram etc, recently surprised her admirers by giving a mesmerizing performance in Naadiya Kollappetta Rathri, an investigative thriller directed by K.Madhu. 

        The film may not be doing that well at the box office, but Kavya has been receiving lot of praise for her performance. She has excelled in playing the dual characters of Naadiya and Naadira. In a causal chat over phone, Kavya Madhavan shares with us her experienced doing the role and also about certain other things-

       So, would you like to call Naadiya a dream role?

       Sort of dream role it is. Naadiya definitely is a character that gave me utter satisfaction doing it, because it was a special character as far as I am concerned.

      What was so special about the role?

          The most noteworthy thing about the role was that it was much much different from any role that I had done before. By doing this role, I got the chance to portray those shades of emotions that I had never portrayed before. It also helped me to break the image of the simple, good-hearted girl that I had always been playing. There was something dynamic about the role.

       How was it, doing the dual roles of Naadiya and Naadira?

        Naadiya and Naadira, though twins, are different in temperament and talk and behave rather differently. This gave me scope to make the most use of my acting skills, portraying two different kinds of characters in the same film. The dual role in Naadiya Kollappetta Rathri was entirely different in nature from the dual characters in Mizhirandilum. And I did take much of strain to do the characters or Naadiya and Naadira.

       Where would you place the character of Naadiya compared to your other characters?

       I wouldn’t dare to compare any of my characters with my other characters. As an actress I get involved equally with all the characters that I do. Anyhow one thing that I would like to put in is that Naadiya is one of my special characters. I am glad that it is a character with whom I would always be identified and I may even be known by the name of the character. That itself is an achievement for an actor.

       How was it, when you started getting into the skin of the character?

       When I heard from the scenarist A.K.Sajan and director K.Madhu that my character was a sharp-shooter and all, I was rather terrified to some extent.  I knew that this was going to be unlike any of my other characters and hence I had to be careful. I did enough of homework. And others, especially the director and the scenarist helped me a lot. I had some doubts and al regarding the characters, especially Naadiya, in the beginning and they helped me in clearing my doubts and making a clear understanding of my character. I even took down notes based on their explanations and instructions and that helped me lot. And once the film started, things gradually became smooth. The hero of the film, Suresh Gopi, too helped me a lot, especially in adding life to the climax scene.

          So, you are all happy with the film?

       Yes, cent percent. I am happy that at last I have done a character which will be remembered even if I stop acting somewhere in the middle of my career.

        You are at present acting in a Tamil film. Tell us about it?

       Yes, I am the heroine in Sadhu Mirandaal, the Tamil film directed by Malayalam director Siddique, who is popular in Tamil too. Prasanna is doing the hero and my role is that of a television anchor. I like the idea of acting in a Tamil film, like any other actor, because of the richness, the reach and the technical brilliance that Tamil Cinema has.