Veena P. Nair – Malayalam film actress who played lead role in ‘Aakasha Ganga 2’

Veena P. Nair is a newcomer of Malayalam film industry. She shot to fame playing the lead role of Divya Unni’s daughter, Arathi in 2019 horror comedy, Aakasha Ganga 2, a sequel to the hit horror film released 20 years back. She loves to do Tik tok videos, and one such act of ‘Nadodikaattu’ movie paved her way to films.

Veena P. Nair, a Keralite is now settled in Mumbai. Her father Prem Kumar is from Vadakara, and her mother Sreelatha hails from Thrissur. She belongs to a big family, and is the eldest of 4 siblings. She has two younger sisters – Pooja and Nandana, and one younger brother – Hrishikesh. She visits Kerala occasionally during vacations or functions of relatives, and never stays long.

She never imagined that she would land into a world of films. She has the craze to do Tik tok videos, mostly emulating hit Malayalam film dialogues. She has also done one short film. She came to limelight for the first time after she emulated a romantic scene between Mohanlal and Shobana for the hit movie of 1980s, Nadodikaattu. Her professor Roy happened to watch this video and asked if she is interested in doing movies. She nodded yes and also sent her photos to the casting team of ‘Akasha Ganga 2’.

Production controlled saw her photos, and also its director Vinayan who asked her to send Tik tok videos. They felt that she has a ‘ghost’ look which fits well into the character of Arathi. She sent her Tik tok videos of movie, ‘Manichitra Thaazhu’ and impressed the filmmakers with her acts of Nagavally, Shobana’s argument with Mohanlal etc. She was doing her second year Business management graduation course at Mumbai, when she was offered the first film role. With the success of the movie, she is now a known face in Kerala.

Veena P. Nair – Some interesting and unknown facts

1. She is a trained classical dancer and loves dancing. She also loves cooking during her leisure hours.

2. She had a strange incident while shooting the movie Aakasha Ganga 2 in Olappamanna Mana where its prequel was shot. While she was reading the script, an owl came and sat near her. It starred at her before it started to fly again, and it scared her a lot. She screamed and ran away.

3. Among the ghost movies, toys and sound effects of Annabelle scared her most. She feels that Mallu ghosts are not so scary. Yet when she watched the first part of Aakasha Ganga, she was so scared with the changing face of Mayuri that she couldn’t sleep well for next two days.

4. On her 4^th birthday, her photo was sent to a TV channel for ‘birthday wishes’ program. Director Vinayan watched this show, and later called her and offered the child role of ‘Vellinakshatram’. For some reason she couldn’t do that role. Years later she marked her screen debut with another movie of the same director. Though she couldn’t do the ‘child ghost’ role, she did adult ghost role with ease. A very rare co-incidence.

5. Since young she has been scared about ghosts, and is interested in the subject as well. When she studies in living room, mother sleeps in the same room to give her a company.

6. Though she is a Malayali she rarely stays in Kerala for long period. It was for the first time during the shooting of her debut flick, she stayed here for long 45 days. Mumbai city never sleeps at late night, which is just opposite in the social life of Kerala, and that’s one reason why she hesitates to stay in Kerala.

7. Many members of the ‘Akashaganga 2’ team felt that she has a striking face resemblance with actress Divya Unni, who played Veena’s mother in the movie series. Divya Unni was shown deceased in the sequel.