Adhithi Rai is keeping her fingers crossed. Her debut film in Mollywood, Annyarkku Praveshanamilla , hits theatres today. “It’s an out and out masala film. It has a bit of comedy, romance, mystery… I play Anjana, a fashion designer, who leads a happy, domestic life. She grows suspicious when her husband starts behaving strangely when a guest enters their lives. Tini Tom plays my husband in the movie,” says Adhithi, who has Malayali roots.
Her father, Dominic John, is from Kottayam. “Although I can speak Malayalam, I can’t read or write the language. I am more comfortable with Kannada. My mother, Reeta, is a Kannadiga. While shooting for Annyarkku Praveshanamilla, director Jayakrishnan would explain each scene to me.”
Although she may be a newcomer to Mollywood, Adhithi says she is a familiar face in Sandalwood. She made her debut in 2011 in the Darshan Tugudeep starrer Prince . “I was in class 12 when my uncle called up asking if I was interested in acting with Darshan. I yelled ‘Yes’. Who would miss an opportunity to star with a superstar like Darshan?”
The 23-year-old recalls being tongue tied and star struck when she first saw the Sandalwood star. “I am a huge fan and had seen Darshan only in movies till then. Seeing him in person and acting with him was like a dream come true.” She giggles as she goes on to add how she had to stand on a stool to deliver her dialogues. “He is so tall and I am short. To get the frames right, I had to stand on a stool.”
She then went on to act with Siddharth in AK 56 . A Tamil movie she has starred in, by director Anbu, has yet to reach the screen.
Adhithi, who is currently pursuing an MBA, has two movies in her kitty – 50 and Mysore 150 Km . While 50 is a tri-lingual (Kannada, Telugu and Tamil), Mysore 150 Km is a Malayalam film by director Thufayil. “ Mysore 150 Km is a heroine oriented film. The shoot for the film will start in July. Both Anumol and I are the leads in the film,” says Adhithi, who is a face of several jewellery ads.
A perfectionist, Adhithi is never satisfied with her performances. She says one can usually find her on the sets of movies with the director. “I never get upset if I get yelled at by the director. I know he wants me to perform better. I always go up to the director after a shot as I want to know how I can or could have improved my scenes. My mother is my biggest strength. She has friends in the movie industry and knows the ins and outs of the industry. When we watch movies, she often explains the various angles and techniques used. When I signed up for Prince , we visited various film sets so that I could observe the workings of a movie,” says Adhithi, who pauses to add that Adhithi is her screen name. Her real name is Sylvia Dominic John. “The producer of Prince didn’t think my name would fit in the industry as there are very few Christian sounding names in Sandalwood. My family and I went through several names before deciding on Adhithi Rai. I now go by that name and am comfortable being addressed as Adhithi.”
A shopaholic, Adhithi says you will rarely see her in the same outfit twice. She laughs saying her parents find her addiction a headache. “They complain that they do not have space to store their outfits.”
She is also a bit of travel buff and recalls her various road trips to Kerala, fondly. “The food and the scenery keep drawing me back to Kerala.” Asked about the kind of roles she would like to do and she says. “I would like to play a strong woman, something challenging like that of Shobana in Manichitrathazhu and Aishwarya Rai in Jodhaa Akbar .”
