Memories of the fun-filled ride on Venkatadri Express linger as Rakul Preet Singh gets ready for her next release, Loukyam , this Friday. “It’s been 10 months since Venkatadri Express released. The film was a turning point for me,” she says. The actress began working on Loukyam , directed by Sriwass and co-starring Gopichand, in April this year.
Loukyam places Rakul in another comic setting, backed by Gopichand and the inimitable Brahmanandam. “The fun is mostly situational than slapstick. We are not doing outrageous things make the audience laugh but a few things we do in course of the film and what they leads to will make people laugh,” says Rakul.
Loukyam is a comedy with a hint of romance and drama, she says. “I play a don’s sister; she is an arrogant girl with her nose in the air and goes about ragging others in college,” she explains. Many heroines have done the haughty girl’s role before and Rakul says she’s tried to interpret it in her own way. “The difference will lie in the body language. I am certainly not going to be giggly on screen. Whereas in Current Theega , I am a much younger school girl,” she says.
Soon after Venkatadri Express , Rakul was approached with a number of offers, of which she took up a handful. Current Theega with Manoj and Sunny Leone, Pandaga Chesuko with Ram and Kick 2 are among them. Rough, which she signed on much earlier, is also on cards. “I was never in a rush to sign projects and wanted to choose carefully,” says Rakul.
Venkatadri Express might have been her ticket to fame but she has been part of Tamil films Puthagam and Thadaiyara Thaakka . “I always dreamt of being an actress and began modelling when I turned 18. But in the initial stages, I didn’t know how to go about things. I became serious about acting after I quit college,” she says. A permutation and combination of factors, she outlines, goes into her choice of films: “I go by the script, director and cast.”
In between her Telugu films, Rakul is also shooting for Ramesh Sippy’s Shimla Mirchi . The film marks Sippy’s return to direction after more than two decades. “I was selected after my first meeting with Rohan Sippy. This is a dream project where I get to work with the ‘dream girl’ Hemamalini and the talented Rajkummar Rao. The fact that I had done Yaariyan also in Hindi helped,” she says.
Her work leaves her little time to sleep but Rakul is happy. Once an avid golfer, now she manages to play once or twice a month. “My father was in the army and used to play golf. He taught me golf when I was quite young. Initially, I hated the game. Then it became an addiction and in high school, I played at a professional level,” she says.
Golf took a backseat when she turned to modelling. “I cut down on playing golf because I would get tanned,” she laughs.
The golf club will have to wait, for Rakul is in no mood to pause between shooting schedules.