Malayalam blockbuster hit 'Premam' was a life changer for actress Anupama Parameswaran, who in fact named her home by the film's name. She is still known among the Malayali audience by her movie's character Mary.

Though she shot to fame with her debut movie 'Premam', the actress has done only three Malayalam movies to date. However, Anupama is one of the top heroines in Telugu and has delivered several back to back superhits. Now, after a hiatus, the actress has signed a Malayalam movie titled Maniyarayile Ashokan. In a recent interview with TOI, the actress spoke about why she chose to stay away from the Malayalam cinema.

Thanking director Alphonse Puthren for transforming her life with Premam, the actress revealed that she faced a lot of criticisms on social media post the release of 'Premam'. She said that she was deeply hurt when people trolled her online for appearing in several interviews during the pre-release time and boosting her own publicity for doing just a very less screen time in the movie.

"I had to face a lot of social media abuse post Premam’s release. They said I had jada and was called an ahangari. During the promotions, I gave a lot of interviews as certain people who weren’t connected to the movie told me to make use of the opportunities. I was tired of interviews. I was a little girl from Thrissur and all I knew was to follow what they said. When the film released, I had limited screen time and people started trolling me for that. They felt that I used the publicity for my personal growth. My answers weren’t polished during the interviews and I was really hurt (by the trolls). So, I decided to stay away from the Malayalam film industry and began rejecting films that came to me," Said Anupama in an interview with TOI.

She further added that it was the time she got a call from a big production house in Telugu to play a negative role. "As some people had said that I do not know how to act and knew only to boast, I took it up as a challenge; I decided to learn a new language and get into that industry. I got two more Telugu films after that and then came Tamil and life went on," added Anupama.