Jokes apart…

…I play a sentimental character alongside Shiva and Santhanam in Ya Ya, a full-fledged comedy, says Dhansika

Dhansika has two interesting films in the pipeline. She plays a girl from the slums of Chennai in Vizhithiru and has been signed up for a role opposite Vijay Sethupathi in Sanguthevan.

Anyone would wager that a mere look at actor Shiva is enough to evoke a chuckle. Imagine how difficult it would have been to romance him on screen. The tall and dusky Dhansika found herself doing exactly that in her upcoming feature Ya Ya , which also stars Santhanam.

How much of a challenge was it to not laugh out loud while doing a love scene with Shiva? “I can for sure say that the love scenes between Shiva and myself won’t make you laugh. They have been conceived in a cute way,” she says. Despite featuring Mirchi Shiva and Santhanam, Dhansika says her portions in the film are largely ‘comedy free’. “I play a girl who is very sentimental. The character has been conceived in such a way that there is no scope for comedy,” she says.

If she is not cracking jokes in what is touted to be a full-fledged comedy, then what is she doing in it? The jokes are on her, she says. “Making fun of women has been the trend in Tamil Cinema of late,” she says. Doesn’t it bother her?

“It is just for fun, right?” she asks and adds, “As long as it doesn’t hurt women, I am fine with it.”

After two ‘dark’ period films, Aravan and Paradesi, where she was seen with minimal make-up and drab costumes, Dhansika is relieved to have done a colourful urban film like Ya Ya . “I have been asked a number of times why I keep doing films where I get to appear so shabbily dressed. It is because of those films that I am here. I like to do films with substance and I consciously avoid those in which I have nothing much to do,” she says.

Dhansika has two interesting films in the pipeline. She plays a girl from the slums of Chennai in

Vizhithiru and has been signed up for a role opposite Vijay Sethupathi in

Sanguthevan . Surprisingly, Meera Kathiravan’s

Vizhithiru will see her in a comic role. “It is a challenging role for which I have had to master the Chennai slang,” she says. In

Sanguthevan, she plays a village belle. “Sudhakar narrated the script so beautifully that I just couldn’t say no to the film,” she says.