When Amala Paul celebrated her 20th birthday last week on Deepavali day, it was perhaps the most memorable one for her. Any youngster would be proud of her achievement; an interesting repertoire of seven films at such young age.
The Malayali actor who primarily works for Tamil movies and is now making her debut in Bezawada with Naga Chaitanya, is a picture of studied confidence and modesty. Be it in Prema Khaidi ( Mynaa ) in which she displayed amazing innocence, fear and terror of a teenager in love, on the run or her complex third movie Sindhu Samaveli . In Naana ( Deiva Tirumagal ) her role was brief but she played someone who's older than her age and displays the anxiety of a guardian to a small child being snatched of custody.
The actor reminiscences, “I was 18 when I was offered Prema Khaidi and my face was sprouting pimples. Prabhu Solomon promised he would remove them on the DI and he didn't. Later he said I look hot with them. My friends were surprised to see me in that role because I'm such a contrast in real life. Shy and romantic expressions never come for me easily.”
The actor says she didn't struggle for her roles but once she was offered she worked hard to be accepted and to reach this position. Amala has an eclectic mix of DNA from her parents. She claims to be simple and a people's person like her mother, stubborn and forthright like her father. Her mother is a singer and her dad was into theatre and part of a musical band in college.
After plus two, she appeared for the engineering test but gave into the creative call; she now balances her career between modelling and movies perfectly. She adds, “As a child I would wear a crown and yearn to be the centre of attraction, I even won Ms. Beautiful Smile in a few competitions. Stardom hasn't changed me, it's just my lifestyle that has gone through a transformation. I do have a manager but I don't leave everything to him and at the end of the day remain clueless about which film I'm working in and who my producer is. I don't like to be reminded about what I need to do the next day. I need support to ease a few things but not to lose track of life. I can only say that things happened to me at the right time.”
In between the conversation she takes 15 minutes off to go to the church. She just landed in town after a commercial shoot in the Andaman. Still glowing in the aftermath of her birthday celebrations, Amala says, “I'm fed up with cutting the cake so many times: had a celebration for movie people, then my friends, then one at home. Now I have to spend more time to burn these calories.”
Amala's all excited about her forthcoming film Bezawada . “I am Geetanjali. When you know your boyfriend is a rowdy you go back in love but here she is bold and stands by him. I guess Naga Chaitanya is the best launch hero for me in Telugu,” she gushes.
