Y.Sunita Chowdhary
Payal Rajput wows the audience again. In a stellar role as Mallika, a poor, unwed woman in Anaganaga O Athidhi, she proves yet again that she can slip into any role effortlessly and bring the character alive on screen. The actor is a victim of wrong choices post RX100? Not really, she knows what she is doing and has immense clarity. Just not her debut film, she did an equally good job in Disco Raja. “Two months back, Producer Allu Aravind who is the producer apparently passed a message that I should read the script.
I saw the Kannada version of this film and thought that Malli was a proper feisty, rustic woman. I want to do versatile roles. I was totally into Mallika and the director would say after pack up, come out of it. I was almost like that, even with my dog I was interacting that way. I am a director’s actress, if I get a good one I can do good work. I was promoted in a wrong way for RDX 100, never showed that I was a social worker in the promos but capitalised on commercial stuff. The one who dubbed, the director, the dialogues were all amazing. Credit should go to them. I did lose weight and it helped,” she says.
About the feedback she is getting for Anaganaga O Athidhi, she further says, “The role will haunt you for a day at least. I am getting a lot of messages and I feel blessed. I am more inclined towards artistic films and actors like Tapsee Pannu, Radhike Apte, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi are my mentors. My role is getting massive responses, no negative comments. I was a bit worried about how the audience will respond but now they say they can’t bat their eyelids while watching the film. When I am 60, I should look back and feel happy for delivering good work. I want to be remembered. I don’t want to say that I am averse to a particular genre. Tomorrow if I have to do a beggar’s role also I should do it. I am a big movie buff and I watch all kinds of world cinema. I also want to act in various languages.”
“The climax is a turning point. No one knew what was in store for her, it was unpredictable. I was weeping after the famous scene. The director would tell me not to blink my eyes, look straight into the camera, look a bit evil. The 17 days I shot were the golden days of my career. I don’t have a godfather and I am not born with a silver spoon, I need to select stuff from what I am offered. Also, the team that handled my work previously sabotaged, got me bad films. Greed is destructive like what you saw in the film. Now I am in safe hands. I signed a Punjabi film and I am going to Canada soon.
I will be doing one more OTT film for AhA. She is a filthy rich girl, so rich that she doesn’t know what poverty is. She is very fair, beautiful, a yoga instructor and full of life. The film has been titled Three Roses and is something similar to Four More Shots. There are 3 girls who are friends and struggling to find love. They want to get married but they don’t. I still feel like a struggler and I am trying my best to make the right choice. People like me a lot in Andhra, I have massive fan following. The audience saw RD100 three or four times. They are doing it again now.”
