Twins shine in film debut: 'Pookkaalam' a lucky break for siblings

Though it takes hardly 20 minutes to reach Kongadu from Vallikodu (in Palakkad), it required a film for the two twins who hailed from these places to finally meet. When the team of 'Pookkaalam' searched for two identical twins to play a couple, they eventually found what they were looking for in twins Amal Raj-Kamal Raj and Navya and Kavya. Thus, 'Pookkaalam' had the distinction of featuring two twins acting in the same film. While Kamal Raj teaches at Palakkad Sree Krishnapuram VT Bhattathiripad College, Amal Raj teaches at Kuzhalmantham CA Higher Secondary School. Meanwhile, Navya and Kavya are Art of Living teachers. The twins are ecstatic about their movie debut. More from them.

From Instagram to Cinema
We teach Art of Living courses, and we also teach Yoga, Music, and Meditation. During the pandemic, we opted for online teaching. Since we're always interested in dance and music, we started making Instagram reels. When a video went viral, we decided to make more reels. That gave us much reach on social media. Ganeshettan saw the reels and offered us the film. The 'Pookkaalam' team sent us a message on Instagram. Usually, we ignore such messages since there are so many fake profiles around. In fact, we had previously missed a good opportunity due to this apprehension. So this time we responded to their message, and they called us to Kochi. We were asked to perform our intro scene in 'Pookkaalam'. They all clapped after our performance and said they needed this kind of energy on screen!

In a word, the shooting experience was beautiful! The crew created a fun atmosphere on the set. Even after an emotional scene, the set would come alive after the director called for a cut. It was so much fun. We would often find it difficult to differentiate between Amalettan and Kamalettan. For people on the set, it was a task to separate us.

Our family is proud of our achievements. They became emotional when they watched us on screen. Though we have worked in IT and commerce, we never felt like we belonged there. Those weren't spaces that could contain our energy. That's why we quit and decided to become Art of Living teachers. We have taken classes for Rachana Narayanankutty and Ananya. A space filled with dance, music, and yoga seemed to have the kind of vibe that suited us. It also helped us land a film. Many people called and messaged us. We are very happy and plan to take our family to watch the film this Vishu. Usually, we don't go to the theatre during Vishu, but this time we're making an exception.

Our students insisted that we try acting in films: Amal Raj, Kamal Raj
It was our students who told us to send our videos when they saw the casting call. They forwarded Basil's Facebook post to us. They took our video and photographs themselves. That's how we landed the role in the film. The team asked us to send a skit video. So we acted out a scene in which we were waiting for the audition call and preparing for the auditions. Our wives wrote the script, and the 'Pookkaalam' team loved it. When we went for the auditions, they gave us dialogues from the film script and asked us to act them out. Though we were nervous initially, somehow we managed to pull it off. The team was searching for twins aged between 40 and 45 years. And apparently, there were very few entries from that age group. That really worked in our favour. This is such a lucky opportunity for us. A lot of people wanted to know if having a twin helped in sharing the pressure. That’s not true. In reality, we need a third person to do that for us as we are not looking at each other as two individuals. So, like when you need someone else to share your tension, as twins we need a third person to share our tension. There were many people on the sets who were there to share our tension. They were all hugely supportive. Even the senior actors were so friendly towards us. They would tell us stories to make us feel comfortable and secure. Director Ganesh Raj, who gives a lot of space for new actors in his film, was extremely supportive. We were given a confident and safe space to perform. Besides, it was a role that just required you to behave.

As a family, we are excited about this Vishu because of our big film debut. Two days ago, 40 of our family members watched the film in the theatre. This time, Vishu is cinema!