I was looking for a good women-centric film: Keerthy Suresh

Serin Thankam Sam  

After Mahanati, the movie that brought her National Award for Best Actress, Keerthy Suresh took two years to choose another stand-alone film. Keerthy felt that she needs to be more responsible about choosing films after winning the award. “After the release of Mahanati, it took about six or seven months for me to find the script that I wanted. I was looking for a very good women-centric film in Tamil, like how Mahanati was for me in Telugu, and that script was Penguin. It took awhile for me to meet Penguin,” she said.

Penguin is a psychological thriller that revolves around a mother’s struggle for her child’s safety from the clutches of a psychopath. The bi-lingual film is written and directed by debutant Eashvar Karthic and produced by Karthik Subbaraj.

Keerthy admits that it is the intriguing plot that led her to the film. The actor plays a pregnant woman searching for her missing son. “I loved Eashvar’s narration. He narrated the script to me for over four hours. And still, I couldn’t feel it was a four-hour-long narration. The movie is completely about motherhood. Probably, by the end of the movie, every mother is going to feel that I am a superhero,” Keerthy said.

The actress points out that the genre itself is new for her. “Penguin has definitely been one of the most exciting and interesting projects I’ve worked on,” said Keerthy Suresh.“As a mother, Rhythm is both gentle and caring, but also fiercely determined. She’s complex, but authentic, and I think that will really strike a chord with audiences.”

Talking about her experience working with the director, Keerthy said, “I had a wonderful time working with the incredibly talented Eashvar Karthic to bring the story to life. It will be great to see a film in Tamil, Telugu that will be appreciated by audiences around the world.”

Following on the footsteps of actress Jyotika’s Ponmagal Vandhal, Penguin is the second Kollywood movie to release on Amazon Prime Video. Keerthy believes that OTT platform has opened up a bigger space for artists. Penguin will be released on June 19.

Keerthy’s last big screen release was the A.R. Murgadoss directorial Sarkar (2018), alongside Vijay. The actress is set to star in three Telugu films, Miss India, Good Luck Sakhi  and two big-budget releases, Rajanikanth’s Annaatthe and Mohanlal’s Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham.

Official Trailer of Penguin

Penguin: Omale song

Penguin: Tamil-Telugu Bilingual
Direction: Easwar Karthic
Producer: Kartheekyan Santhayanam and Karthik Subbaraj(Jigarthanda)
Production: Stone Bench Films
Release: Amazon Prime Video
Date: June 19, 2020