This region has hijacked me, says Aditi Rao Hydari

The actor talks about feeling at home in Hyderabad and Chennai, and looks forward to ‘Sammohanam’ and ‘Chekka Chivandha Vaanam’

May 28, 2018 04:05 pm | Updated May 29, 2018 01:33 pm IST - Hyderabad

It was intended to be a conversation for a minute or two, and if she was intrigued, could be followed up with a detailed narration. Aditi Rao Hydari remembers her first chat with writer-director Mohana Krishna Indraganti for Sammohanam . She was in Chandigarh, calling it a day after attending an event. “He said he would tell me a one-line story and if I liked it, we could speak later,” she says, talking to us during a lunch break in her caravan, while shooting in Hyderabad.

The one-line story required her to play Sameera, a north Indian striving to make her mark in Telugu cinema, falling in love with an illustrator (Sudheer Babu) who doesn’t think too highly of those in the showbiz. “I immediately felt I should do it. I was game for a narration and the phone conversation lasted over an hour and a half,” recalls Aditi.

Many faces of an actor

After Mani Ratnam’s Kaatru Veliyidai (Cheliya in Telugu), here was another opportunity to work with a writer-director who, she felt, had a strong part for the female protagonist, and she didn’t want to let go. Beyond that, she could relate to the character: “There are several faces to us, actors. The way I am now, chilled out in the van while talking to you, will be different from the way I am when I meet fans, at a public event, on the sets, in front of the camera, and while at home. All this gets depicted in the film and there’s a smooth transition. There are several layers to Sameera’s character and I could bring in my own experiences and observations to portray it,” she says. There are people who think the film industry is a dirty place to be in and are suspicious about female actors.

Aditi reflects, “I’ve spent seven years in the industry and had initially bumbled along. But I’ve been lucky to have worked with some of the best filmmakers (Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Imtiaz Ali, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sudhir Mishra…).”

Reverting to talk about Sammohanam , in which she meets Sudheer Babu who doesn’t have a great regard for the film industry, Aditi says, “We meet all kinds of people, from those who’re star struck to those who can’t figure out what we do. My father (who passed away a few years ago), wasn’t tuned into cinema and would ask me ‘so what do you do on the sets?’ He didn’t look down on my work, but was curious. My cousins don’t treat me like a star. Then there are others who think the film industry is a dirty place to be in and are suspicious about female actors. I think every industry has a dirty side to it. My perceptions as an outsider changed when I started working here. I’ve come across so many disciplined and hard-working people; this is no different from other professional fields.”

Dubbing in Telugu

Aditi related to the part of Sameera, coping with language issues, and wanted to dub her lines in Telugu. A dubbing artist would be able to do it, with all the pauses, but they would come across as rehearsed, she feels. “It also helped that Mohan sir comes from a family of writers and is so passionate about the language. So it was a huge help at the stage of dubbing. At many places I didn’t fumble and my diction was right; he would ask me to intentionally make a few mistakes to suit the character,” she laughs.

If she sang ‘Vaan Varuvaan’ during Kaatru Veliyidai promotions and won hearts and is now being noticed for her Telugu dubbing, she reckons that it “makes the performance complete”. She tells us about the month-long rehearsals at Madras Talkies office and how Mani Ratnam saw to it that she got her lines right. “I mugged up all my dialogues and said them so that the lip sync would be perfect.” Now, working with Mani Ratnam again for his forthcoming Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (titled Nawab in Telugu), she says, “I missed the Madras Talkies team and had withdrawal symptoms after Kaatru Veliyidai . When I got the call from Mani sir for CCV , I was dancing in joy. It felt like homecoming to return to the team.”

There were also Hindi projects in the form of a brief role in Padmaavat and in Sudhir Mishra’s Daasdev , but now she says, “this region (Telugu and Tamil film industries) have hijacked me.” Next, she’s working with Varun Tej in Sankalp Reddy’s space thriller. “I loved Sankalp’s work in Ghazi . He’s a director with passion and conviction and has an amazing script. The best part is, it has a strong female character,” says Aditi, signing off, as she gets ready for another session of shoot.

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