If things had been different, Priya Anand might have become a singer. “My grandma sent me to paatu class and I went, just like all south Indian girls are expected to. I hail from a family of classical musicians; Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is my grand-uncle. My folks thought I’d be a singer.”
But things haven’t panned out badly for her after all. She started acting in 2009 and, today, is paired with some of the most promising stars in K-Town. The girl, whose Vaamanan with Jai catapulted her into the spotlight, has a long list of projects up her sleeve.
She says it was 180 (or Nootrenbadu ) that was her turning point. “I was just someone who was enamoured by the movies when I did my first film,” she recalls, “ 180 changed all that. I always tell Jayendra (its director) that that movie gave my career a 180-degree turn.” It made her Priya Anand; she was always just Priya before that. “All my life, I have just been called Priya. So, whenever someone from the film industry called me by my full name, I would get scared. That was because back in school I was called ‘Priya Anand’ only when I was in trouble!” she says.
Just after Nootrenbadhu , she got an offer she couldn’t refuse — a Hindi film with Sridevi. “I never thought meeting her was a possibility, let alone doing a film with her,” she recalls, “But English Vinglish made me realise I had it in me to do well in films. It gave me national recognition,” she says.
Her upcoming Tamil release – director Kannan’s Oru Oorla Rendu Raja – will see her playing a normal Tamil ponnu . “To be able to do a film that’s so clean is satisfying. I have an intro song — Sundari Penne — sung by Shreya Ghoshal. It’s come out like how Mani Ratnam would have shot it,” she says.
The film helped her re-visit her native village near Mayavaram. “And we shot all the exteriors in the Mayavaram railway station,” she says, “I was told that in my grandfather’s time the station used to be a popular place to hang out. It was so special to shoot at a place where he had chilled out and spent much of his childhood.” Director Kannan, she says, allowed her to get involved with the process of filmmaking as well. “He’s open to discussion and suggestion. People are insecure about their product, but he’s not like that. I’d love to work on at least one film with him every year.”
Her varied life experiences — having grown up in a small town, living in major Indian cities and the U.S. — have made it easy for her to play different characters. “I am extremely independent. My parents live in the U.S. and I can’t run to them every day with problems. I travel alone — I’m perhaps one of the few girls who don’t take their mother to the set. Most of the film fraternity don’t even know what my mum looks like!” Her years in the U.S. have given her an accent she finds hard to shrug off. “Half the boys don’t approach me because of that,” she laughs, adding, “They think I’m a ‘peter’!”
She might shoot across the world, but Priya is a Chennai-ite at heart. “Even after I retire or win a lottery, I’ll continue to live here,” she laughs, “You can enjoy kutcheris , drama, theatre…. and some horse riding and surfing too! There are places like Ratna Café — my grandpa went there and I do too.
So it’s like three generations going there. Then, there are beach parties and other ways to keep myself entertained.
Chennai is the ideal place for families to raise their kids…it affords the perfect Indian experience.”
PRIYA UNPLUGGED
* Being an actor makes you quirky, at times. It plays with your head. I am a simple person. I don’t have a maid. I enjoy cooking. I also love eating at local biryani shops.
* I enjoy reading self-help books. As people, we fall apart while handling stress; so, it’s great to read about people who have done that successfully.
* As a heroine, I don’t have much control over my character. But, I do have control over how I look and that’s why I try to be different in all the films I star in.
* I idolise Oprah Winfrey. She’s helped so many people across the globe.
