‘I’m no glamour girl’

Shriya Saran, who was recently voted ‘Ultimate Hottie of the South’, says that there is more to her than just looks.

Shriya Saran

“I wasn’t the prettiest girl in school,” says Shriya Saran. She seems desperate to shrug off the “hot” image that’s accompanied her throughout her career. Even now, she’s more in the news for winning an online poll — Ultimate Hottie of the South — rather than her sober role in the Hindi remake of Drishyam, where she plays mother. As if to emphasise how looks have never been so important, she adds, “A friend of mine from over 20 years ago contacted me after seeing the poll and said she couldn’t even recognise me now. I had oily hair and spectacles. I was popular more for my dance than my looks in school.”

Shriya believes that her career was affected by the media stereotyping her as being too glamorous. “In cinema, if you wear western clothes, people think you’re going to party and getting drunk every night. But if you wear saris, you’re considered a saint. These perceptions need to change.”

It is only now, after 14 years in the industry, that Shriya gets to work in films “that feed the soul”. After her Telugu films

Manam, Gopala Gopala , and Deepa Mehta’s English film

Midnight’s Children , Shriya is excited to be part of

Drishyam, in which she stars opposite Ajay Devgn. “It felt like I was reading (Haruki) Murakami,” says Shriya, describing the experience of watching the Malayalam original. “It’s such an intelligent story told in a simple way… it’s not often you get to work in films where you don’t know who’s good and who’s bad.”

“After finding success in playing girl-next-door roles across south Indian languages, she says it is time she experimented with her roles. Like Meryl Streep, she believes, one can rediscover oneself at every stage of one’s career. “Those girl-next-door roles were my bread and butter and I was appreciated for my work. But now I’m getting to be part of films that resonate with me as a person. Films like

Manam and Drishyam weren’t offered to me when I started out. Plus, I’m not one to go out seeking roles, and at some point, good scripts need to come your way too.”

Talking about her limited exposure to cinema before entering the industry, she fondly recalls watching movies while growing up in her hometown in Uttarakhand. “I’m from a typical middle-class family and I grew up in a place without a theatre. We lived in a BHEL colony where movies were screened in an open-air screen called Jhankaar. I remember going there with my mom while it rained, sitting under an umbrella and watching old Hindi movies. I also remember being in awe after watching Titanic in Jaipur when I visited my aunt. My knowledge of cinema was very limited, and now, to be sharing screen space with National awardees like Ajay Devgn and Tabu...”