Priyamani about her role in Raththa Chariththiram

[Saturday, December 04, 2010]
In recent times Priyamani is found doing only guest roles in Kollywood and other woods and HosurOnline was so curious to hear the reason from her own mouth.
Today in the morning, at HosurOnline, the discussion was about Priyamani and the guest roles that she plays in movies. The discussion was hot as it involved discussion about her the car gift she received from an actor and others!

Finally we at HosurOnline decided to depute Richard to meet Priyamani in person and collect her opinion "Why she does small roles in Kollywood?"

Here below is the extract from the interview held with Priyamani:

All it took for Priyamani to star in Rakta Charitra II was a phone call from Ram Gopal Varma. “I knew Rakta Charitra would be a story between two men, Suriya and Vivek Oberoi. I had no problem when Ram Gopal Varma told me that I had only a small role as Suriya's wife who is supportive of his decisions,” says the spunky actor, who is best remembered for her rustic, firebrand portrayal of Muthazhagu in the Tamil film Paruthiveeran, which fetched her the National Award for Best Actress.

Priyamani soon moved on to do glamorous roles, punctuated in between with spirited performances, though short, in films such as Raavan. Incidentally, her first and second Hindi films feature her in short roles. “True, both Raavan and Rakta Charitra 2 do not have me in full-fledged roles. But many people noticed and appreciated my performance in those few scenes of Raavan. For me, it was an honour to work with directors such as Mani Ratnam and Ram Gopal Varma. I'm happy I got to share screen space with established actors such as Vikram, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan and still was noticed,” she says.

Shooting for Rakta Charitra, she says, helped her observe Ram Gopal Varma's method of functioning. “He is one of the most chilled out directors I have worked with. He was as cool as a cucumber in any situation.”

Priyamani did the dubbing herself for the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions of Raavan and Rakta Charitra. She says, “Since I grew up in Palakkad, I am comfortable speaking both Tamil and Malayalam. Spending my school days in Bangalore, I learnt Kannada. Once I started acting in Telugu movies, I picked up the language from the unit members. Now people associate me with my voice when they see me on screen. So my directors feel I should do the dubbing myself.” Post-Raavan, she dubbed for Golimaar and wants to do it for her forthcoming films.

Post-Rakta Charitra 2, Priyamani's calendar has Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. “Ragada is a racy action entertainer where Nagarjuna speaks the Rayalaseema dialect. In Kshetram, which is a heroine-centred film, I have a strong role. And of course, there is Raaj with Sumanth which I am looking forward to,” says Priyamani.

Missing from her itinerary of films is her fill of Tamil films. “I am waiting for good offers to come my way in Tamil. It's one industry I cannot forget, for it gave me Paruthiveeran,” says Priyamani.

The film was more than a turning point for her, she recounts. Priyamani made her debut way back in 2004 and her first few Tamil and Malayalam films sank at the box office, despite some of them fetching her commendable reviews. “I was labelled a jinx. No one wanted to work with me. I was home for about six to eight months without any films. I did modelling. In fact, at one point, I contemplated quitting films. That's when director Ameer called me for Paruthiveeran and I cannot thank him enough for it.” Soon after the film's tremendous success and the National Award, she was approached for several similar roles. “Had I accepted all of them, I would have been typecast in serious, village belle roles. I stuck to my guns and donned a glamorous role in Malaikottai with Vishal. People were shocked that I could dance!” she laughs.

She also made heads turn when she sported a bikini in Drona, an act that fetched her bouquets and brickbats. “I don't know if I would ever do it again on screen. I would probably think a few times before saying ‘yes'. The director said he wanted to picturise a song stylishly and present the heroine like Kareena Kapoor in Tashan. I was hesitant but finally agreed. At that point of time, no actor had done a bikini sequence in Telugu. I got positive and negative feedback for doing it,” she says with a smile.