Kushee Ravi, who hails from Bengaluru, awaits the release of her Tollywood debut 'Pindam' this Friday (December 15). In this interview, the 'Dia' (Kannada) actress says that the shift from theatre to cinema has been joyful.
'Pindam', Kushee avers, helped her play something unconventional. "The genre is so new to me," the young actress says, adding that she has learned to tone down over the years.
I was a bit taken aback when I was offered this film. This is my first Telugu outing and in the very debut, I am playing a mother. Tollywood has a different fan base altogether. The sensibilities here are so different. I have to do what the audience here expect from a fresh actress - perhaps a bubbly, college-goer role. With my first Kannada film 'Dia', my character broke the mould. 'Pindam' too is similar in that respect. The character challenged me.
Sriram Srikanth sir and Easwari Rao ma'am were fun to work with. They were calm and composed. The kids were inquisitive and energetic. They used to teach me lines!
This is the fastest film I have done. The shoot began in August and was finished in September. And the release is happening in December. This is as quick as it can get! The team knew what they wanted.
When I did 'Dia', I was a theatre artist. I didn't know anything at that time. In theatre, the artist has to be very expressive. In cinema, you can be understated. Changing the genres will help the artist convey versatility. The audience shouldn't be bored with the same pattern. Doing a horror thriller like 'Pindam' for the first time was a different experience altogether.
All my life, I haven't finished watching a single horror movie. 'Pindam' is my first horror movie both as an actress and an audience member (laughs).
My second Telugu film is titled 'Rudra'. That's a transgender role. I love challenging roles. I am all for commercial cinema but offbeat roles attract me a great deal.
I observe the common people more than the actors in films to learn acting. Even when I am walking on a road, I notice others and their body language. I believe in subtle, naturalistic acting. In 'Pindam', I play a pregnant woman who is also a mother. I was conscious to make the audience believe that I am a Telugu girl. I am not a fluent Telugu speaker, though. I know the language fairly well. Telugu and Kannada are sister languages with almost similar scripts. I haven't dubbed though given time constraints. But my lip sync is genuine.
I am good at emotions. I can cry right away without breaking a sweat. I will crack it without wearing glycerine.
A heroine is not supposed to stick just glamour. I have to offer variety so that the audience remember me. My character has to matter in the scheme of the film. If it suits me, I am ready to do special songs. But I am not up for too much skin show.
I got married after my first film, 'Dia'. It was a love-cum-arranged marriage. I am a mother of a girl child. Even after doing 'Dia', I didn't believe that I would be in the film industry. If that film hadn't clicked, I would have worked in a school as an administrator or something. I am the kind of woman who doesn't like to sit at home.
Yash sir and Puneeth Rajkumar sir are my favourites. In Telugu, I admire Allu Arjun sir and Nani sir. I was offered Sundeep Kishan's 'Ooru Peru Bhairavakona' but I couldn't do it because it demanded me to have a makeover. The script is wonderful, though.
