Zee Kannada’s new serial Vidya Vinayaka takes off tonight at 8 pm. The serial, produced by actor Dileep Raj for Dhrithi Creations, is directed by MN Jayanth and Santosh Koti. It is said to be a tale of two characters with contrasting personalities. Actress Kavitha, popularly known as Chinnu Kavitha plays Vidya while Dileep Shetty plays Vinayak. The makers describe the series as a story about relationships, love, drama and vengeance.
Kavitha, who started off as Chinnu in Lakshmi Baramma, went on to act in Kannada films such as Srinivasa Kalyana and First Love, is back to the small screen.
Talking about her role in Vidya Vinayaka, Kavitha says, “It is about Vidya and Vinayaka. How they come together. They are complete opposites. Vinayaka is serious, strict and has OCD. He is finicky about cleanliness and does not even shake hands. If he does, he washes his hands with a sanitiser. Vidya, on the other hand, is a complex character, who goes through numerous emotions in a short span of time. The plot is such that it adds layers to her character at every step,” says the actor, who adds that she “never went out of television. I was not seen here as I was not in Bengaluru. And, I am an actor. So, whether it is television or cinema, does not bother me. All that matters is acting.” Kavitha has also acted in Telugu serials such as Radha Gopalam and Swathi Chinukulu, adding, “I was simultaneously acting in TV and films.”
Kavitha says she enjoys balancing both television and films and is not insecure about being seen only on TV or vice versa . “As long as I get something challenging to do, I will take it up,” she adds. Her depiction as Chinnu was so successful that she played the character for three years. Did she ever get bored? She replies, “Earlier only my family called me Chinnu, but after Lakshmi Baramma, the whole of Karnataka called me that. You get so much into the character that you can’t be bored for long as the character becomes an extension of yourself. So you can go on and on. Besides, there was a new sequence to look forward to every day,” laughs the 25-year-old actor.
About the medium of television, she says, “It gave me an opening and taught me all about the camera, lights, dialogue delivery. It gave me experience. It was like my tuition class and taught me how to be an actor. Television gives you so much love from the audience and you become a part of their family. That opened doors for films, which again were successful because of my popularity in serials.”
She believes television is equally balanced with films, especially in Karnataka and “actors on TV are as famous as film stars today.”
Why are all the serials always about love, vengeance and drama? And, pat comes the response, “Why do you read the Mahabharata or the Ramayana ? Because the situations in your life are similar to those in the epics and you get solutions. It is the same with serials too. We too show people that everyone goes through crisis and how it can be solved. That things do happen to everyone. There are people with differences. We kind of create exposure through stories.”
Vidya Vinayaka takes off on October 30 and will be telecast on weekdays at 8 pm on Zee Kannada.
