Mangalorean-based actor Ester Noronha will be releasing her bilingual (Konkani-Kannada) film, ‘The Vacant House’ this October. Produced under the banner ‘Janet Noronha Productions’, this third project has Ester Noronha debuting as a director and music director.
The earlier two productions included Konkani film ‘Sophiya—A Dream Girl’, which won the Karnataka State Award for ‘Best Regional Film’ in 2018 and ‘Kantaar’ (Konkani-Marathi bilingual) starring noted Bollywood actor, Jackie Shroff.
Throwing light on the upcoming film, Ester says that the screenplay, dialogues and direction has been shouldered by her, including the music direction and background score. “It’s a heroine centric movie on an unusual subject,” Ester reveals. “It’s a love story, but with a new perspective and hopefully the film buffs will enjoy it,” she says.
Asked what prompted her to debut as director and music director, Ester said that she is a pianist, with 8th grade from Trinity College, London under her sleeve. She is also Carnatic vocalist, completing junior grade and Arangetrum (Rangapravesha), besides gaining training in Hindustani Vocals from Ustad Hafiz Khan.
Ester says she has been a singer since childhood and composer in Konkani industry from the age of 14. She has written, composed and performed her first composition at the age of 14 in her maiden show ‘The Easter Show’ at the Town Hall in Mangalore.
At the tender age of 16, Ester Noronha released her first independent album consisting of ten songs, all penned and composed by her. “But composing for a feature film,” she shares, “it’s my first experience.”
Born on September 12, 1992, Ester is an Indian actress and singer. Known for her works in Telugu, Kannada and Konkani films and entertainment industries for more than a decade, Ester has won the Best Actress Award for her Konkani film ‘Sophiya—A Dream Girl’, Best Performance Award for Telugu web series, ‘Recce’ and Best Supporting Actress Award for her Kannada film, ‘Lanke’.
Till date Noronha has worked in more than 35 films in around 7 languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Telugu and Tamil. Her works on the screen include ‘Bhimavaram’, ‘Bullodu’, ‘Shakeela’, ‘Lanke’, ‘Sophiya’ and ‘Recce’.
Ester Noronha is a multi-lingual actress, having played multiple roles, which include heroine, director, and music director. “Those who watched me closely acting in several films said that there’s potential to be a director and so the plunge came about quite naturally as director in the third film,” she reminisces.
“Stepping into the music director’s shoes came about as the one who was supposed to do it, did not turn up for some reasons,” Ester informs. “The film has only two songs—one is peppy and the other one is emotional,” she adds.
As she makes her directorial debut, Ester is of the strong opinion that more stories need to come on screen than the theatrical stage, especially from the woman’s perspective. With enough experience of acting and singing in films, she admits that she has always been an inquisitive and philosophical person and “so direction came to me organically,” she says
Expressing concern over lack of female directors, especially in the Kannada film industry, Ester says, “It’s pretty difficult to figure out why so few women are behind the camera. To be a director and guide, instruct and direct behind the camera is totally a different and enriching experience,” she shares, “and probably jobs like hair stylists, cinematographers, production executives have been given a specific gender over the years. But the scene is slowly changing as women as women are now seen in every sphere of the society which is a good and encouraging sign.”
“A majority of the spectators have witnessed a man’s take on several subjects. Women too have various issues to be dealt with and there’s a lot to say and hear from the women’s perspective,” Ester shares her journey as a film director. “And that is what I am attempting to do with my new bilingual film ‘The Vacant House’. It all depends now on how the audiences are going to relate themselves to the film,” she adds.
Ester realized her potential of becoming a director when she showed keenness during the shoots of her earlier films. “During the pandemic, a lot of time was spent writing the script and screenplay for this film,” she discloses, and finally she handled with ease the megaphone for this movie.
The shooting of the upcoming film, ‘The Vacant House’ was carried out at a farmhouse and in Mangaluru and the director is hopeful of its release in the month of October. “The shooting of the film ‘The Vacant House’ is complete and the post-production work is in progress. If all goes well, then the release is scheduled in the month of October,” she concludes
Making a bold entry in Konkani tiatrs, presently in comedian Brian’s monsoon tiatr ‘Mhoji Khori Maim’, as an actor and singer, Ester has already captured the hearts of the tiatr lovers. And she expects the same love and support for her upcoming bilingual film.