I’m As Happy Working In The South-Priya Mani0 comments

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Posted on 05 Nov 2009 at 10:09am

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Priya Mani sure is one busy actress, what with shooting for her B-town debut Raavan and signing her second Sandalwood film.But all the while she’s fending off rumours about the number of actors she’s been involved with. “First it was Vishal, then Prithviraj, and now Tarun, whom I’m ‘secretly married’ to! And to top it, he’s supposed to have bought me a car. I was taken aback by these reports. If I don’t say anything about it, they might even say I have two kids with him!” she laughs.

Her first Kannada film hasn’t even hit screens yet, but Priya has already bagged her second Sandalwood project. After audiences see her romance Puneet Rajkumar in Raam, she’ll be paired opposite Ganesh in the Kannada remake of the Tamil hit, Kushi – which had Vijay and Jothika in the lead. The untitled project will be directed by Mahesh of Mussanje Maathu fame and produced by Chandrashekar. “I’ve had several opportunities to star opposite Ganesh, but things weren’t working out. But it’s finally happening,” says the actress, adding that Jothika’s character in the original is what prompted her to accept the role.

While Priya is thrilled at being able to work with Ganesh, she has a few concerns about making her Sandalwood debut. “I won’t be able to travel by auto in Bangalore anymore,” she laughs, “I was in town recently and was able to go to coffee shops quite freely. Once Raam releases, people will know who I am. I won’t even be able to ask auto drivers to drop me home because then they’ll know where I live.”

However, the National Award-winning actress is disappointed that she couldn’t dub for Raam herself, despite knowing Kannada. “That’s because they did the re-recording while we were shooting. Next time, perhaps,” she says optimistically. But she’s pleased she has the distinction of being a pancha baashe taare – a heroine who’s worked in five languages. “Since I can speak Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi, I could build my network and hence, work on more films,” explains Priya.

She may have gained entry to B-town with Raavan, but Priya says she won’t chase roles in Bollywood films. The fact that she’s currently shooting for the Telugu film, Pravarakhyudu, seems to be proof of this. “I’ll know where I stand in Bollywood after Raavan’s release. If it works out, fine. Otherwise, I’m as happy working in the south,” she says.

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