It’s been a good four years since this actress sizzled on screen. So, she seems to be making up for it with two characters rolled into one. Her forthcoming film, the multi-lingual (English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) Quick Gun Murugun or QGM, has her play a glamorous blonde by the name of Mango Dolly who transforms into a simple South Indian girl at home, and Rambha can barely conceal her excitement.
“It is like I’m playing two characters in one film. One dresses in short skirts, wears a blonde wig and coloured lenses and lots of make-up, and the other is a simple, sweet South Indian girl who wears the typical long skirt and choli and has black hair and black eyes.”
Unusual film
For an actress seeking to make a comeback, this vital role in a rather unusual film, high on not only talent but also on marketing and distribution muscle thanks to the presence of global production studio Fox STAR, has come like manna from heaven. “Each time I think that my career is finished, something comes along that revives me. I had asked Shashanka (Ghosh, the director) why he chose me as Mango Dolly and he said that he wanted a face that people of all languages recognise. He was looking for an innocent yet sexy-looking girl. Mango Dolly is a bit of Hannah Montana and Barbie girl put together. I was surprised that he thought my face was innocent-looking,” she laughs aloud.
In the film, Mango Dolly is conned by Rice Plate Reddy, the main villain of the piece, into singing and dancing at his bar by promising her that he would help her win a beauty pageant. So, while Rice Plate is head-over-heels in love with Mango, she falls for, predictably, Quick Gun. Incidentally, he too has a Locket Lover, who conveniently stays in his locket and keeps warning him against the new girl in his life. There is even a seduction scene played out between Mango and Quick Gun. Ask her about it, and she giggles, “It is more of a cute seduction scene when I come to know about his Locket Lover. We are emoting seriously but the lines are so funny that it has a hilarious effect.”
Rambha is only too happy to work with Rajendra Prasad (who plays QGM) as the first Telugu movie she did, Aa Okkati Adakku, was with him — it catapulted her into the limelight and also gave her the screen name Rambha, after the character she essayed.
After QGM, she has another film under her brother’s banner Prajay Productions, titled Vidiyum Varai Kaathiru that has been shot in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. “This one is a spine-chilling thriller about a medical student who gets trapped in her uncle’s house and the occurrences of that one night. The trailers of my new film will be released during the screening of QGM,” she adds.
The actress, called Laksha at home (short for Lakshanika, her real name) is much like Mango Dolly, it seems. “My family says I am like water; I take the shape of any vessel I am poured into.” Ask her if she has plans, as some rumours suggest, of doing a television swayamvar a la Rakhi Sawant, and she flatly denies it. “I want my man to come looking for me; not vice versa. I want a nice guy who will take care of me as my family does.”
Currently, she is enjoying the resurgence of the press at her doorstep and the marketing blitzkrieg surrounding the film. “I used to look dreamily at Krish dolls and Aishwarya dolls and repent not being in Bollywood. Today, I see playing cards with Mango Dolly and an ice-cream flavour of her name at Baskin Robbins. I am thankful to God for all this,” comes the frank admission.
