Rajisha Vijayan: I was flabbergasted when Krishand first told me the story of ‘Masthishka Maranam’

The courtroom scene in Krishand’s based-in-the-future flick Masthishka Maranam – A Frankenbiting of Simon’s Memories, where Frida Soman unleashes a monologue on how women celebrities are perceived/consumed, questioning the public’s appetite for morsels of their lives, is especially thought-provoking. It was also one of those scenes from the film, which made Rajisha Vijayan, Frida in the film, wonder if the audience would think it was too much. “But you need to trust your director and move forward,” says Rajisha over the phone.

She says she was “flabbergasted” by the idea when she heard the story. “I was not worried about how we would execute the idea. I felt this was something we should do.”   

Masthishka Maranam delves into the probable shape of technology in the future. In this future, memories are on sale, and some even become games in the VR universe. As in the film, where technology and its use/misuse forms the premise, it features prominently in this conversation with Rajisha. One in which camera-toting paparazzi and their disrespectful invasion of privacy, the absence of machinery to control them and spliced footage from different interviews for out-of-context bytes come up.

The film is a conversation that was needed, she maintains. “Many actors [women] are speaking about it now, but we have been thinking about it. A lot of them told me at the film’s premiere that they felt seen. Somebody has articulated things that they had been wanting to say. When it happens in or is shown in a film, it gives people a voice to use later on. I am not implying that they are saying it now because of our film, but it has given voice to things we have felt. Technology is changing, everyone has a phone and a camera ready to click photographs in whatever angle they please. Some of these cameras can zoom in 26 times! What can we do?” she says. Disturbing iterations of these thoughts feature in Masthishka Maranam. 

Rajisha Vijayan
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Rajisha has been applauded for her over-the-top turn as the high-strung Frida. Krishand had several references for the character, but Rajisha had none. He watched her previous work to ensure that, as Frida, she did not bring in anything she had done before, which, to both Krishand’s and her credit, she did not. “It was about channelling who Frida was, while ensuring that nobody figures her out. There is an ambiguity to her character that I felt should lead to empathy for her, but not criminalise her although we know what she has done.” 

She knew that the film would require an over-the-top performance for everybody, especially for her. Speaking of the prep she says, “Mental preparation went into it, but there was also the physicality of it,” says Rajisha. More than for weight loss, she trained physically for six months to gain strength, along with a month of boxing. “There is a physicality to the character. She is agile and fit, she lifts stuff and fights…so I had to look and be the part of a person who was athletic enough to do all that!” 

Then there was creating the lookbook, for which she is grateful to Krishand for giving her the space to do that. Despite the preparations, workshops, and rehearsals, she was worried about getting it right. Her mind was put at ease only after the release.

Her dance number ‘Komala thaamara’ found many fans and was also met with trolling when it dropped. Old interviews were dug out, her take on ‘item songs’ was taken out of context to troll her. “That is the power of editing — just random out-of-context quotes joined to make it look like something it is not.”

She confesses that the episode got to her to some degree, but she feels vindicated by the response to the film. “I knew the opinion would turn once the film was out.” 

She maintains that it was never her intention to disparage the work of others. “There is a very thin line between being sensuous and vulgar, and that is what I was trying to say. As we grow, we evolve and our opinions too. I am an actor, I will do what my character demands. Had I said I said this five years ago, so I will not do this film, what a loss it would have been for me?” 

Over the past year, Rajisha has been part of films that have garnered attention like the Tamil film Bison Kalamaadan, Kalamkaval and now, Masthishka Maranam. 

Is it her being selective about her projects? The actor who won the Kerala State Award for Best Actor for her first film, Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (2016), says, “I have always been selective about my films. Lately, the characters written for female actors are not strong enough. There are fewer of those now. There is no dearth of talented female actors in our industry. The female characters should be organic to the story, and of late, because of the times we live in — with nuclear families, the mothers, sisters or mother-in-law characters are not part of the narrative. Romance in the movies is also not how it was,” she says.

She prefaced the answer with an unanswered question about 10 brilliant roles by women in the 50-60-odd films released over the past one year.  

Rather than complain about the lack of women’s stories in cinema, Rajisha asks why don’t more women write the stories and make films. “Three men wrote June. When will we pick up the pen and write stories about women? It is easy to blame someone else. Why not take the difficult path and create something? If we [women] want our stories told, we need to start doing something about it.” She uses Reese Witherspoon as an example of someone who changed the status quo when she co-produced Gone Girl, making the kind of films she wanted.   

Rajisha’s vehemence begs the question whether she intends to write or direct a film. She laughs, “I am trying but I don’t want to do anything half-baked. When I come out with something, it has to be good. I don’t want people to say that I should have stuck to something I know. Acting, in comparison, is so easy!” She is on the lookout for collaborators but she does not want to say more about it. 

She is currently filming Amal Neerad’s Bachelor Party D’eux, and the Tamil film Sardar 2 is ready; she is also looking at other industries like the Telugu and Hindi film industries. “I have never differentiated between industries or mediums, whether it is theatre, feature or a short film. I am very happy acting.” 

Published – March 13, 2026 09:26 am IST