'Kalyanam Kamaneeyam' hits the cinemas on January 14 (Saturday). In this interview, debutante actress Priya Bhavani Shankar talks about her character, working with UV Creations, her preferences as an actress, her upcoming projects in Telugu, and more.
I am from Tamil cinema and 'Kalyanam Kamaneeyam' is my first Telugu film. I am glad to be debuting under a prominent production house like UV Creations. I have done some excellent work in Kollywood and am looking forward to doing the same here. I have a release coming up with Naga Chaitanya (Amazon Prime Video's web series 'Dhootha') and another with Satyadev Kancharana later this year in Telugu.
'Kalyanam Kamaneeyam' came my way a year ago. I like feel-good, warm movies the most. 'KK' is the kind of movie I would like to watch as an audience member. Release issues are not easy to be managed. A good production house is needed. UV Creations is one such house.
Music is a strong merit of this movie. A musical hit in Tamil gave a major push to my career. Incidentally, my Telugu debut also has a robust musical output.
'KK' is not an out-of-the-world story. Your wife, your sister, your daughter will see fragments of Shruti in themselves. Anybody can relate to her role. I am no perfectionist and 90% of Shruti is the real me. I could relate to her completely. What triggers her is exactly what starts me as well. That's why playing the character was not so challenging. It was like playing myself. I like feel-good movies like 'KK'.
It's a very simple story, as the trailer communicated. It's about an unemployed husband and his wife is a loving woman. Unemployment is not the factor that triggers her. It's not about her ego. It's about what people think about her husband that provokes her. There are no ego clashes between them. It's just miscommunication.
The husband and wife start off typically. She finds that her husband is not viewed well by people. She doesn't return the same person that evening. What others say about her gets on her nerves. She blasts her husband that night.
Santosh Shoban is a calm person who is very sorted. I watched his debut film 'Paper Boy' when this offer came my way. I assumed that he is a privileged kid. But I learned that he underwent a lot of struggle. He is a brilliant actor and an amazing performer. He was also helpful with lines. I don't take prompting.
It's the director who determines how an actor performs onscreen. There are great actors who perform terribly in some films. Debutant director Anil Kumar Aalla is very sorted and clear-minded. I have worked with a lot of debut directors in the past. There is no inhibition in my head about debutants. Again, I believed in UV Creations who trusted the director. He is a sensible director who is not desperate.
I am really tense and anxious about how people might receive me here in Telugu. When I debuted in Tamil, I didn't have any anxiety. I am a nobody here in Telugu. I hope they really like me!
I played a brief role in Dhanush's 'Thiruchitrabalam'. I really like him as an actor. That's why I was okay to play a brief part in it. He is a multi-talented person whom you can admire for many reasons. I am going to associate with him for a project soon.
I grew up in a large family and used to celebrate Pongal with twenty cousins! Of late, festivals in my family have become compact and urban-centric with the passage of time.
