Honey Rose looks very different in real life, she is leaner and very girl next-door. As she sits down for the chat, her assistant enquires if her face needs a touch-up, which she refuses politely even as she says hello. She is visibly excited about Rachel, her first Malayalam film this year, scheduled for release on December 12. More so because she is headlining the film.
For the actor, who made her debut in 2005 with Boyy Friennd, this is a life-coming-full circle moment because she is in a lead role, a first in Malayalam, in the film directed by newcomer Anandhini Bala. “I am so happy and excited about the film. I hope I gain acceptance as an actor as Rachel, and that my work and I are looked at differently,” says Honey. Her earnestness, proof that she is deeply invested in the film and the role.
She confesses that the role, very different from what she has done before, demanded hard work – while preparing for it and on the job. “Rachel is set in the 1970s-80s, it is, obviously, a very different period, so that takes more work in terms of costumes and language. Add to that the fact that she is a butcher. Cutting meat is not easy. I spent time with a butcher to understand how it is done because there are different ways of cutting. Also there is a way to swing the cleaver, and it takes a lot of physical effort. This is one of my very physically challenging roles.” The other challenges included filming with herds of buffaloes and driving a jeep.
What makes Rachel even more special is that it is one of those films that she has been part of right from the start. “Anandhi came to be with the one liner of the story, it got me very excited. I have been part of the process since then, in that sense my involvement with the film is very different from how it has been. I have, quite literally, journeyed with it. Usually one does not even get to see the script. I would go on the set, do my work and go home.” Rachel, a revenge drama/thriller, is based on a short story by Rahul Manappattu, who co-wrote the script with Abrid Shine. The film was due for release earlier this year.
“My hope, with this film, is that people stop seeing me as the ‘inauguration star’!” Her honesty is endearing, it is tinged with a dash of self-deprecatory humour. “I have been doing these inauguration events for the past 17-odd years. But it is recently, in the past 3-4 years, since the proliferation of social media, that it has become such big news. Up until then I was quietly going about cutting ribbons. I quite like it: the people, the vibe of the crowd,” she says, amused by the attention it has been getting over the years. Her amusement by no means is to be mistaken for her being okay with it. She has cut down on those appearances to focus on this film. Although she has not been making a lot of films, she has, however, set up her own production house, HRV Productions.
This film is an attempt to rewrite the script and her role in the Malayalam film industry. “My family asks me why I am still working here. I am very passionate about cinema, Malayalam cinema especially, and I want to be an actor. This is my need, I have to do this for myself. I have managed to convince them, for now,” Honey says.
One gets a glimpse of her vulnerability when she says that since she has not proven herself as an actor yet, her family’s reservations are justified. Hailing from a business family in Moolamattam, her first exposure to the movie business was the filming of Vinayan’s Meerayude Dukhavum Muthuvinte Swapnam near her house.
She was watching the filming when somebody from the crew asked her if she wanted to be an actor. “I was in Class 9, I think. He asked me this in front of the crowd gathered to watch. Anyway, we met Vinayan sir who told me that I should consider movies when I am older.” That idea took root and a couple of years later, she met the veteran director and landed her first film.
Honey Rose in ‘Rachel’
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Her breakout role was to come in 2012, as Dhwani Nambiar in Trivandrum Lodge. Since then she has been part of films, including in the Tamil, Kannada and Telugu film industries. Initially acting was tough, she admits. “Back in the day film sets were very different. If one did not give a take properly, you got shouted at. Scoldings were common. Getting a shot okayed would make me anxious. Over time I started loving it.”
Honey wants to be acknowledged as an actor, she wants to prove her worth. Rachel is the kind of role, she believes, will help her do that. “It is not that I had not been getting offers, but they were not what I wanted. This is very different. I want to consciously change how I am percieved, cinema is my ultimate passion. ”
Rachel releases on December 12
Published – December 06, 2025 09:40 pm IST
