Actress Shruti Ramachandran reminisces about her transformative experience in ‘Madhuram,’ a film that reshaped her career. She expresses her love for playing Chithra, a character endearing to many for her passion for biryani and subtle romance. Reflecting on her favorite scene, Ramachandran notes the beauty in Chithra’s unvoiced feelings, which struck a chord with viewers.
There wasn’t much buzz. It was on a random day after we all were getting back to normalcy after the lockdown and the pandemic. A movie got released on OTT, and it slowly started gaining positive reviews.
Then it started ruling the social media platforms; songs, viral cuts, and dialogues—everything started trending. There are jokes that even the sale of Biriyani spiked after the movie. Yes, talking about the Ahammed Kabeer directorial ‘Madhuram.’ The movie spoke about the life of some bystanders in a government hospital. No, it was not a tragic story; just as the name suggests, it had the sweetness of an adorable love story of Sabu and Chitra.
Even after four years of its release, the movie is still talked about, and as someone wrote online, Madhuram is getting sweeter day by day.Pausing the intro, we have got the very own Chithra, Shruti Ramachandran, who makes us all crave biryani even now, for a quick chat.“I will always be thankful for both Madhuram and Kaane Kaane; they just changed the course of my career. Though I had done Pretham and Sunday Holiday, the real recognition came after these two movies.
I am an architect by profession, who didn’t know much about the magic of cinema, but soon after these two movies got released, my inbox got flooded, and everything around me was surreal. The love I received after Madhuram is incomparable; I still receive it,” she said.In the movie, Shruti played Chithra, a North Indian brought to Kerala, who fell in love with Kerala’s special biryani and the one who made it. Her grace, subtle emotions, and biryani-eating style—viewers just loved her.
“I don’t think I had acted this freely in a movie before. I enjoyed every moment on the set. Chithra made me realize how much I enjoy doing romance on camera. It might be my comfort zone, but I loved how I could give some newness to it. Even today, I get tags and mentions. I am so grateful for the character and the love,” she added.Though Madhuram is celebrated for the adorable love story, it was also a treat for foodies. The sequence of Shruti having biryani will surely make you order one for yourself.“People still talk about it, ‘Oh, I have seen Shruti; I need a biriyani.'” I know; I am a ‘diet breaker’ for many. But, frankly, I was too sick while we were shooting the sequence; I couldn’t enjoy the biryani as much as you see in the scene. I even had to quit biryani for almost a year after that. Though my chemistry with Biriyani wasn’t that great then, I am happy people still remember me when it comes to Biriyani,” she chuckles.The food sequences, that adorable ‘Enikku Enth Ishtama Ariyamo’ dialogue, that kitchen conversation—every Madhuram movie lover has their list of favorites in the movie, but the actress has got yet another one as her favorite.
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“I also enjoyed the Biriyani sequence and that conversation with Joju, but my favorite is another exchange with Sabu. The scene where Sabu comes and he says he is going, Chithra says, ‘Yeah, let’s meet tomorrow.’ But something inside her breaks when he says he is going back to the ship. That dilemma of Chithra, she is going to miss him, but she can’t express it since they haven’t expressed their love. I just loved it,” Shruti shared.
