One knows Natalie Rout as one of the young talents in Odissi. Now, she is set to showcase her histrionics in the yet-to-be-released Telugu movie Hang Up . Directed by Hyder Bilgrami and Tirthankar Das and starring Sudhakar Komakula, Hang Up is a thriller revolving around a phone call which comes during one night. “I play the role of a babysitter,” states Natalie. “Babysitting is a very common thing abroad where parents leave their children with young college students when they go out in the evenings. The house is in a beautiful location but is also in a lonely area. I get a call from a stranger one day and the plot evolves from this phone call.” With a theatre background, Natalie says Hang Up was ‘a learning experience’.
“It was real fun,” she says excitedly. “The whole team was so hard working and the shooting used to take place during the nights. Sometimes we would find a few people taking a nap in the nights. We used to have these midnight birthday parties and we had a blast,” she remembers. Natalie is also well versed in western ballet, tap, modern dance, Kathak and Bharatanatyam but calls Odissi her signature style. She calls the transition from being a dancer to an actress easy. “I got trained in performing arts and Indian cinema requires dancing too,” she smiles and adds, “But Hang Up doesn’t have any dance numbers.”
Calling herself a ‘serious dancer’, she says, “I am a traditional dancer believing in pure art form and it is reflected through my abhinaya . I never dilute the art form.” She credits her mother for exposing her to different art forms. “Thanks to my mother, I was exposed to different things and got an opportunity to pursue them too.” For now, her fingers are crossed as she waits for the release of the movie.
