It's hard to believe that bubbly Bhavana made her debut in filmdom almost a decade ago in a thoroughly de-glamorised role in the film ‘Nammal.' A slew of offers followed and despite some wrong choices regarding certain projects, slowly the young actor made a mark for herself not only in the Malayalam film industry, but in Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada as well. Her latest Malayalam project is a coveted lead role in the much-awaited in the subsequent years saw the young actor making a mark for herself in the South Indian film industry. Some successful films later, she slowly made a mark of her own in all the south Indian languages. Although Though some wrong choice of projects could have hampered her career graph to a certain extent, Bhavana has reason enough to smile with the release of ‘Arabiyum Ottakavum P. Madhavan Nairum in Oru Marubhoomikatha,' directed by Priyadarsan and starring Mohanlal. In an exclusive interview, Bhavana talks about her rollercoaster ride in showbiz, and why she's quite cool about the ups and downs of her career. Excerpts…
You are not seen as frequently as you used to bein Malayalam. Have you become choosy aboutroles?
I am not interested in working in too many films in Malayalam. I have decided to accept only the projects which are convincing enough, with good themes and a good character profile. For instance, I feel that it's a great opportunity to work with such big names such as Priyadarsan and Mohanlal and that's why I decided on ‘Arabiyum…'
But then some of your films such as ‘Kudumbasree Travels and ‘Metro' did not live up to expectations…
I liked the storyline a lot and that was the reason why I decided to do ‘Kudumbasree Travels.' Although the script was fine, on screenit didn't quite turn out the way it was originally narrated .
I acted in ‘Metro' for Dileep, who produced the film, because he is a good friend. When he told me that it is a guest role and I would have to shoot only for a few days, I agreed to do it.
Your last release in Malayalam ‘Dr. Love' received mixed reviews…
I had never done a full-fledged campus movie before. I really enjoyed shooting for the film with a young, energetic group of actors and I loved my character in it. I am getting good feedback about my performance and also about my appearance in the film.
Tell us about And yourcharacter in ‘Arabiyum…'
My character is a smart girl called Ileana. The story is about the importance of money in the lives of the characters played by Mohanlal, Mukesh, and myself. Both of them are fabulous actors and I could have managed to match up with them only with a strong role, which was given to me by the director.
How was the experience filming for the movie, especially workingwith Priyadarshan and such senior stars?
I am working with director Priyadarsan for the first time. He was friendly and cool, which made me really comfortable on the sets. The best thing was that I have acted with both Mohanlal and Mukesh before. I have done films such as ‘Chotta Mumbai,' ‘Sagar Alias Jackie Reloaded,' ‘Naran' and ‘Udayananu Tharam' with Mohanlal and ‘Chronic Bachelor' with Mukesh. So there was no real tension.
We heard that you got a call fora Bollywood film with Emraan Hashmi?
I did get such a call but they were demanding a lot of glamour. So I decided not accept the offer.
You are really active in other language films, especially in Kannada and Telugu…
I have done ‘Jackie' with Puneet Rajkumar in Kannada, which was a big hit; ‘Vishnuvardhana' with Sudeep in the lead, is all set to release soon. Right now I am doing another Kannada film titled ‘Romeo' and will also be doing a Telugu film, where I have done films such as ‘Ontari,' ‘Hero,' and ‘Mahatma.'
You started off in Tamil with the hit film ‘Chithiram Pesuthadi' and then did some notable films such as ‘Deepavali,' ‘Jayam Kondein,' and ‘Asal.' But you're yet to crack the big leagues…
I'll put that down to lack of guidance. Because of that I really did lose quite a few good projects. I am getting good offers from Tamil but I am waiting for ones that will excite me. Actually, I have worked on some big projects in Tamil and have got nice recognition. I don't want to spoil that goodwill by doing some not-so-worthy films. I am in no hurry to do films, unless they are really good.
