The pretty Sonarika Bhadoria is yet another new face in Telugu movies. She had been working in television for around two years before stepping into movies. Right now she is shooting for a Naga Shourya starrer being directed by Yogi who had made Chintakayala Ravi, and a Tamil project that has Gautam Karthik in the lead.
How did she step into television? “My aunt was a designer for television programmes. I had accompanied her to a party when I was very young; the casting directors and directors who were present there saw me , I was even offered a few projects, but I was in Std X. and couldn’t pursue a career in television. After my tenth, I did Tum Dena Saath Mera and Maha Dev. Now I am doing a couple of south projects and talks are on for a few Bollywood films,” she reveals.
Starting early has its own advantages. At 17, Sonarika found it pretty interesting to be independent, working and gifting her parents something with her hard earned money, so she has no regrets about not being regular at academics.
She quips, “Happiness at that age meant buying gifts for parents. They were proud of me, and my friends still say that I had already made a life for myself and they are happy for me. I wanted to become an IAS officer but then wherever I went I found friends, relatives and outsiders commenting on how pretty I was and I will be a star some day. We used to have these get -togethers and they would push me to the stage and say ‘Arey beta go and dance’; all their compliments kind of grew on me. I would ignore it but during my teens I took it seriously. My mom was quite supportive, she wanted me to get into glamour industry.”
Sonarika says that despite having a lot of experience in television she still feels nervous on the first day of shoot. The first time she faced the camera, she did not know anything about camera angles and lighting. Two years into television, she has calmed down but insists one can never stop learning. “The first day of shoot with new people is not easy. In our field, how we look, our physical appearance matters a lot. It is fun meeting people but switching moods for a shoot is the toughest part. A lot of actors face problems but they are chirpy and bubbly for the camera if the need arises. Fortunately for me, nothing of this sort had happened. I had seen colleagues going through this, a colleague’s mother passed away and the next day he was there at the shoot. This job teaches you commitment and focus.” she adds.
The actor says she is not ambitious and is happy with whatever she has. She doesn’t treat any film as a stepping stone to something bigger. Travelling, meeting people, gathering so much experience and taking life as it comes is important for her.
She reveals, “At the moment I am learning Tamil and Telugu and I deliver my lines through prompting, I can’t disclose anything about the films I am doing now at this stage. All I can say is I am on a ‘workation’ combining work and vacation — I have seen Charminar and Lad Bazaar and am yet to visit Golconda. Chennai is a lot like Mumbai but I didn’t get to explore it much. We shot only twice in Chennai as we were travelling to Goa and Kerala more.”
