It’s action for Amy Jackson: The actor on her love affair with Indian films

Amy Jackson in a nonetheless from ‘Achcham Enbadhu Illaye’
| Photograph Credit score: Particular Association

The British flag is flying excessive inside Binny Mills at Perambur, Chennai. A location that has featured in distinguished Tamil cinema sequences earlier, this place has been re-created as a London jail set, unfold over 2.5 acres, for the shoot of upcoming Tamil movie, Achcham Enbadhu Illaye.

Amy Jackson strides confidently into this jail set, reportedly put up at a price of over 3.5 crore, on a late Monday night. In a black blazer and crisp white shirt, she is all set to shoot a high-octane motion sequence. Amy has had been in the identical costume for the final 40 days, since which she started taking pictures for this Vijay-directional starring Arun Vijay.

A month and a half in the past, Amy landed from London and headed straight to the London units in Chennai. “Humorous, isn’t it,” she says, in her trademark crisp British accent, “Simply to enter this set and watch the British flag fly excessive, proper right here in Chennai, feels so surreal.”

Nevertheless, this was not at all times the plan. The makers of this Tamil movie had initially deliberate to shoot this motion thriller in London, however the logistics didn’t fall in place. “I bear in mind Vijay calling me and saying that he had this new movie and that it might be shot in London. I used to be like, ‘Nice, that’s going to be simple.’ Then, issues modified, and we needed to shoot the identical sequences proper right here in Chennai…” she says.

Amy Jackson
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

The journey to India has sparked off a number of nice recollections for Amy, who made her debut within the 2010 Tamil movie Madrasapattinam, additionally directed by Vijay. “I used to be so excited as a result of this was the place the place my movie journey started.”

In Achcham Enbadhu Illaye, Amy will play Sandra James, a jail guard who’s a key character in an motion thriller, filled with emotion. “I do know each actor will let you know, ‘Oh, I’ve fallen in love with the script’, however I joined this primary as a result of it was Vijay’s movie and I do know he has the most effective pursuits in his coronary heart for me. The script can be kickass, has a lot scope for motion, having 4 main sequences woven into it.” Her tryst with martial arts and boxing got here in helpful whereas taking pictures them. “We’ve not held again in any respect.”

Girls uninterrupted

Amy has been to India a number of occasions since her debut movie outing, sharing screenspace with a number of the nation’s largest stars together with Rajinikanth ( 2.0), Vikram ( I) and Dhanush ( Thanga Magan). “There’s no place like India. The vitality as quickly as you land is electrifying, and also you don’t get that anyplace else on this planet.” Throughout her go to, she says she visited a metropolis temple on Maha Shivaratri day. “I simply felt the necessity to sit by quietly and replicate, and landed up at a temple that day. Although it was something however quiet, it was an incredible and highly effective expertise to be a part of the puja.”

Amy Jackson and Rajinikanth in ‘2.0’

She hopes to cross on this connection to India to her son, Andreas, who accompanied her to Chennai. Amy grew to become a mom in 2019, an expertise she describes as ‘life-changing.’ “He (Andreas) is on the forefront of each resolution I make today. Having him in India and exposing him to this nation and tradition at such a younger age is one thing that may by no means be learnt in a classroom. I’m an enormous believer in gender equality and it’s so pretty that he’s seeing his mom work and supply. It’s going to be nice for his upbringing.”

Amy is vocal about points that she cares about. She lately signed as much as help the Chennai-based Worldwide Basis for Crime Prevention and Sufferer Care, which works for ladies affected by home and interpersonal violence. And he or she posts her views on social media, from whales going through a disaster within the Faroe Islands to showcasing her solidarity with Iranian ladies in the course of the Mahsa Amini protests final yr.

Why does she really feel the necessity to do this? “It’s nice to entertain, and that’s stunning, however celebrities, with the sort of following they’ve, additionally must have some sort of social influence,” she says, including “On social media, there may be a lot of pretend information, judgement on different individuals’s lives and trolling that we, as public personalities, must submit with a way of duty.”