‘Perilloor Premier League’ was a welcome break for me, says actor Jaya Kurup

Jaya Kurup on getting appreciated for her role in the Malayalam web series Perilloor Premier League

Perilloor Premier League, streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, which narrates the stories of a bunch of quirky characters in a fictional village, Perilloor, has proved to be a gamechanger for Jaya Kurup.

The actor plays Gomathy, the no-nonsense better half of Peethambaran (Vijayaraghavan), an unscrupulous and scheming politician. When Peethambaran tricks his niece Malavika (Nikhila Vimal) into contesting the panchayat election to become the president, Malavika tries to get out of it with the help of her aunt. “Gomathy is among the handful of ‘normal’ characters in the village,” says Jaya with a laugh.

It is “a welcome break” for the actor who has been doing ‘mother’ characters, starting with Malayankunju (2022), in which she played the mother of the character played by Fahadh Faasil . “It felt nice to finally get a meaty role and also have a different look on screen,” says an ecstatic Jaya over the phone from her hometown, Kattappana, in Idukki.

Jaya admits that PPL has been the toughest project so far for her in spite of the happy vibes on the set. “Besides being unwell, I kept worrying if I was doing justice to the character ,” she says.

In fact, her first scene with Nikhila ran into a dozen takes. “I take time to get into a character, especially when I have to speak a different dialect. Nikhila was extremely supportive,” says Jaya.

She makes note of the support given by Vijayaraghavan in her scenes with him. “I got tense whenever I saw him. It was difficult to match up to the meter of his dialogue delivery. However, he came up with suggestions and that really helped. He also appreciated my performance,” Jaya adds.

The actor mentions that the director (Praveen Chandran), his assistants and her co-actors, especially Sajan Cherukayil, who plays Chandu, always stood by her. “I haven’t got this much appreciation for any role. Credit goes to Praveen and Deepu (Pradeep, writer) for making it happen. No character in PPL goes unnoticed,” says Jaya.