Most recently, Priyamani has starred in an upcoming horror film ‘Charulatha’, scripted and directed by Pon Kumaran (former associate to director cum actor K Bhagyaraj and filmmaker K S Ravi Kumar). The story of this film is about conjoint twins, which is claimed as the first of its kind in Indian Cinema. The film is inspired by a Thai horror flick ‘Alone’.
‘Charulatha’ follows the story of conjoint twins who try to live as normally as possible. While one sister will be very sweet and protective of her twin, the other will be arrogant towards the children who were unkind to them. However, when a boy enters into their life, both sisters will start loving him at the same time. Who among two sisters the boy eventually chooses to reciprocate and what happens thereafter is all about the film which has to be watched on the big screen with the haunting storyline. The screenplay includes elements of romance, thriller as well as horror genre. The director is going to showcase Priyamani in two shades, the good side and the dark side. And the audience is sure to experience this psychologival thriller with wonderful CG works, the amazing re-recording work and superb camera angles.
Besides Priyamani in dual role, ‘Charulatha’ also features an ensemble cast that includes Malayalam actor Skanda, Sharanya, Seetha, Aarthi, Sai Sasi and Master Manju. There are only two songs in the film. Songs and background music were provided by Sundar C Babu. Panner Selvam handled the camera.
Made with a budget of Rs 6 crores, the production began on the auspicious day of Ugadi and is scheduled to be released on September 21st in four South Indian languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. The film was originally made in Kannada and Tamil languages. While the Telugu version is dubbed from Tamil, the Malayalam version is dubbed from Kannada. Ramesh Krishnamurthy produced the Tamil and Telugu versions on Global One banner. Allu Aravind bought the Telugu distribution rights of this film and releasing it across Andhra Pradesh through Geetha Films banner.
‘Charulatha’ is director Pon Kumaram’s 2nd film, the first being the super hit Kannada film ‘Vishnuvardhana’, which also featured Priyamani alongside Kannada super star
Puneet Rajkumar. His debut film also won him the Best Debut Director award. This movie is a big challenge not only for the director, but Priyamani as well, since playing the dual role as conjoined twins is something which no actor or actress performed so far on the Indian movie screen.
Priyamani is an actress of great versatility and one of South India’s finest and most successful actresses. In 2007, she starred in ‘Paruthi Veeran’ alongside Karthi for which she was honoured with three prestigious awards as Best Actress - National Film Award, Filmfare Award and Tamil Nadu State Film Award. Further her remarkable work in the Malayalam film ‘Thirakkatha’, which was also a massive hit, won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in 2008. Her other acclaimed performances as Pooja in ‘Raam’ (Kannada), as Jamuni in ‘Raavan’ (Hindi) and as Padmasree in ‘Pranchiyettan and the Saint’ (Malayalam) won her a Best Actress Filmfare Award Nominations.
Although Priyamani did not receive any award nor was nominated for any award in Telugu, her notable credits are her memorable performances as Lakshmi in ‘Pellaina Kothalo’ (2006), as Maheswari in ‘Yamadonga’, as Munimma in ‘Shambo Shiva Shambo’ and as Pavitra in ‘Golimaar’. Now, the actress proclaims that she used everything that she could in her performance for the perfection in this psychological horror movie. So let’s wait and see if she emerges as one of the frontrunners in this year’s National Award and Filmfare Award.
