In the French film The Intouchables directed by Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano, Magalie, the secretary to quadriplegic billionaire Phillipe, is a brief part. There’s also an older caretaker who oversees the running of the mansion. The trailer of Oopiri (simultaneously made in Tamil as Thozha ) shows a film that keeps the soul of The Intouchables intact with a notable change in the role of the secretary, essayed by Tamannaah. “You can say my role is a combination of the parts of the secretary and the caretaker,” says the actress, settling down to talk. She prefers to call Oopiri an adaptation, not a remake. “A French film may not be accepted if it were to be remade as it is. Director Vamshi Paidapally has adapted it for the Indian audience,” she adds.
The actress hasn’t watched The Intouchables , preferring to go with Vamshi’s narrative. “All the others in the team have seen The Intouchables and each perceives the content differently. We’ve had numerous discussions. I had heard about The Intouchables even before Oopiri was offered to me. Vamshi told me there are a lot of changes in my role. I didn’t want to be influenced by the original,” she says.
Tamannaah plays Keerti, who works with the billionaire quadriplegic, played by Nagarjuna. “Keerti is educated and very well turned out. Half the job was done getting the styling right. The nuances and body language followed,” she says.
Shot in Hyderabad, Paris, Belgrade and Lyon, Oopiri is a story of an unlikely friendship between the wheelchair-bound tycoon and a small time crook who works for him, played by Karthi. Tamannaah calls herself the bridge between these two characters. “The Telugu audience has become accepting of different genres and I hope Oopiri will take this further. It’s good for us. I’ve always wanted to be an actor, not just a heroine.”
As she worked on the film, she felt the need to dub as well. “The dialogues are so normal. I felt I could speak my lines and not look out of place,” she says.
She got through the dubbing “with a lot of coffee” and says the experience made her performance complete.
Tamannaah hasn’t dubbed for the Tamil version though. “I want to focus on one language for now.
My Telugu has improved over the years. As I get better, I’ll dub in other languages.”
The unit shot the scenes simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu and Tamannaah observes how she didn’t replicate her performance for both versions. “The languages are spoken differently; the mannerisms and pauses are different. So I didn’t want to do it the same way,” she says, pointing out how the trailers are also different.
Oopiri brings her back on screen with Karthi, with whom she has worked in Paiyaa ( Awara in Telugu) and Siruthai. “We got together after four years,” she smiles. “We took off from where we had left. He has further evolved as an actor. Some actors are methodical and others, spontaneous. He’s an amalgamation of both. I’d observe him from behind the monitor to learn.”
Having worked with Nagarjuna and Naga Chaitanya, she laughs at the inevitable similarities. “I can see a lot of Nag sir in Chaitanya — the dignity and chivalry, for instance. In this film, Nag has done a commendable job. As actors, body language is part of our performance. Here he had to play a character that cannot move any part of the body. Two people were appointed on the sets just to notice if he moved his fingers or legs.”
Up next are the Tamil film Dharmadurai , a trilingual helmed by Prabhudeva which she terms a woman-centric film, and Baahubali – The Conclusion . “It’s time consuming to do bilinguals and trilinguals. At times I feel overburdened. I don’t even have the time to fall sick,” she trails off.
