It’s been an hour-and-a-half’s wait. While we speculate what could be taking so long, one of the organisers helpfully adds, “She’s not come with her stylist and is doing her make-up herself. Maybe that’s’ why it’s taking time.” Aditi Rao Hydari finally surfaces from her room for the interview, sniffling with a cold.
The actor has been part of the film industry for almost 10 years now. But she likes to believe it’s been just five. Since her first film Sringaram, a Tamil drama based on the life of a devadasi, was shot when she was still studying, the actor doesn’t consider it to be the year she forayed into the movie business. Incidentally, Sringaram released in 2007, after her Malayalam film Prajapathi hit the screens in 2006. “My first film was Yeh Saali Zindagi that released in 2011. I was in Mumbai to do a commercial, and at the same time, director Sudhir Mishra was looking to cast somebody in the film. That’s how I bagged the role,” says Aditi, who was in Chennai for a fashion show organised by Phoenix MarketCity.
Aditi loves being in front of the camera, and no wonder, this is a job she enjoys. “I get to travel, live so many lives by playing different roles, people really love you, and sometimes confuse you with your onscreen characters. It’s unpredictable but there’s very little to dislike,” she adds.
The actor belongs to a royal lineage; most of her family is academically inclined, and owns Orient Blackswan, a publishing house. But being the self-confessed drama queen of the family, she’s rightly “where she’s supposed to be”. The petite actor is also a Bharatanatyam dancer. “My guru Leela Samson lives here. So I dance when I am in Chennai. Recently, I also did a free movement dance video for the UnBlushed series,” she says.
The actor, whose last venture was Wazir , will next be seen in Sudhir Mishra’s Aur Devdas . “It’s a film seen through the eyes of Chandramukhi. In this, she’s called Chandni. There’s another film, but it’s like a CIA secret. Can’t mention anything about it yet,” she adds.
