“Chittagong is getting amazing reviews and people are enjoying it, very soon it will release in Hyderabad; it’s a small independent film and had tough competition with the big ones coming in. Hopefully with word of mouth it will pick up and theatre owners will promote it,” says Vega, the executive producer of the film. We all have known her as Saroja from the film with the same title directed by Venkat Prabhu.
The actor hasn’t done too many movies. Happy Happy Ga and the recently-released Housefull were the only Telugu movies she has worked in. Vega works for a private equity fund which is basically into funding movies. “I am very much involved with my films and I give it my 120 percent. I would like the audience to think that if Vega is in a movie it is going to be fun, entertaining cinema; in the next few years I hope to build that,” she says firmly.
Vega reveals that director Bedabrata Pain is a scientist with the NASA who has already garnered international acclaim has dealt with the forgotten heroes of India’s freedom struggle in Chittagong.
She quips, “He’s an amazing man and I had the pleasure of being guided by him both as a director and a producer. This is a historical drama based on the Chittagong uprising in 1930. I played Preeti who is a real life martyr, a Rani of Jhansi of Bengal. It’s so inspiring that I grabbed the role with both hands. The death scene in the film was very beautiful and came out very well. Very few actors get a role like this in their career.”
She adds, “ Chittagong is an independent venture and I loved the script. I finished the shooting for the film like any actor would but after seeing the first cut of the film I fell in love with it. I came on board by helping them in selling and distributing it. My background helped me, I did everything for the film from being peon, to the clap girl, the character, executive producer etc. I really enjoyed that and I am very proud of my work.”
Vega’s next release is a romantic comedy Amit Sahni Ki List by Ajay Bhuyan starring Vir Das of Delhi Belly . Housefull which was made a few years back, but released a couple of weeks back, was actually director Ajay Bhuyan’s debut film, and had Vega playing an important role of a girl with an attitude.
The film turned turtle at the box office. Vega reacts, “It wasn’t released for a long time and it also did not get the promotion it deserved. It was a different film with a quirky sense of humour and I couldn’t promote it at that time due to Chittagong ’s release. The audience expected the regular masala from it and when they saw something different they must have felt disappointed.”
