She forayed into filmdom with a Kannada movie and after making a promising debut in Bollywood with Vicky Donor , Yaami Gautam is carving a niche for herself as an actor.
Following rave reviews for her performance in the recently-released bilingual film Gouravam, the 24-year-old actor is looking forward to her next bilingual Gautham Menon’s Courier Boy Kalyan .
In a telephonic interview, she says: “The film is in Tamil and Telegu; it stars me and Jay (Tamil) and Nitin (Telugu) respectively. The story is about a girl who works in a khadi store who falls in love. It also has a social angle and I want people to go to the theater and experience firsthand the issue we have dealt with. All I can say is that it’s not something people have seen on celluloid yet. There is romance, action, music and drama, making it a commercial film.”
Stating that the script was what drew her to the film, Yaami adds: “I took a while to say yes to this project because of the dates. However, having been given a substantial role and seeing the director’s confidence in casting me, it was hard to not take up this film. Gautham has a way of convincing a person about something without actually selling what he has in mind. Being a director’s actor, that was more than enough to sign up.”
Delving into her character, Yaami says: “I’m not too much like her or too much unlike her in real life. I’ve never encountered the kind of situation in which she falls in love. That said the protagonist is today’s girl, strong and confident.”
Her homework for the film involved visiting khadi stores and observing the sales girls, how they dress , their body language, how they deal with a friendly customer and how they have to keep showing merchandise to the customer even though he doesn’t end up buying it!
“Having to open and fold clothes a hundred times was such a pain,” Yaami quips.
Does she enjoy working in bilingual films? “As hard as it may be to believe, it just happened! In future I’d also like to experiment with more genres. All I really care about is that the character I play in any film should have an impact on the audience.”
Up next, Yaami has Aman ki Asha , where she has been cast opposite Pakistani actor-singer Ali Zafar.
She explains: “It is a cross-border love story in which I play Asha, a bubbly Punjabi girl, based in United Kingdom and Ali plays the Pakistani lad, Aman. It’s a delightful romantic comedy and something that will move the hearts of people who watch it.” The film, directed by E. Niwas and produced by Neeraj Pandey, is likely to release in the next few months.
