Eesha Rebba has her hands full. Her last few releases were Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava , Subrahmanyapuram and Brand Babu. Her new thriller Ragala 24 Gantallo releases this Friday. She is game to taking up any film that excites her, it doesn’t matter if the director is new or experienced.
Ragala 24 Gantallo is a murder mystery, and the trailer promises a narrative that builds suspense. Eesha plays Vidya, an orphan, and what happens in 24 hours is a consequence of her behaviour and reactions to her surroundings. “The story revolves around my character but I strained myself quite a bit. It took a toll on my health; I was travelling and shooting for two films simultaneously and would go to the sets straight from the airport. I had a good time nevertheless; the director was understanding. Music director Raghu Kunche would come to the sets sometimes and give background score then and there to reflect the ambience,” she reveals.
She is also acting in the Netflix’ web series, the Telugu edition of Lust Stories , and the Tamil film Aayiram Jenmangal (a horror comedy) co-starring G V Prakash, which releases on December 20. Eesha also had a small role to play in the NTR film Aravinda Sametha... Was she aware of the space that would be given to her in a star-studded film? “Actors often say most of their footage got edited, mine did too. It happens with a lot of people. When something like that happens, we do feel sad but I think such things keep happening,” she shrugs.
Esha reveals that at first she was reluctant to take up the part when she heard about her character from the producer; she couldn’t relate to it. “Later Trivikram Srinivas narrated the full story and I said I’ll do it. The advantage of doing a star film is the wide reach; and it did help me a lot. The new visitors to my social media sites would message me about my work, they had apparently seen my previous movies as well,” she says.
Thanks to the digital media, even a film like Brand Babu that didn’t do well at the box office also got 10 million views. The film was telecast on the television and people complimented her.
In the Telugu edition of Lust Stories , every director has a 30-minute slot and her story is directed by Sankalp Reddy. The stories are independent of that of the Hindi version. “Today was the last day [of shoot] and I wrapped it up. Sankalp is a confident director, he has immense clarity. The episodes happen in someone’s life and of course it is about lust but it is aesthetically shown. There is actually something more than lust and is being handled by experienced hands. Many actors have now become a part of interesting projects,” says Eesha, without revealing much about the series.
Digital platforms have opened up the choices for actors. Eesha cites the example of Shobita Dhulipala, who featured in Made in Heaven after Goodachari : “People who say that out-of-work actors are doing series don’t understand what they are talking about. Everyone is being watched and you might get a Hollywood film too, who knows! The digital platform is another alternate career option and one gets to play meaty roles and get recognised. Series are getting dubbed and released in many languages and people all over the world watch you,” she gushes.
