Two years into acting and she has been rechristened three times over: Rakshita became Hasika while shooting for her first Telugu film, then Prabhu Solomon named her Anandhi, delighted that he had found his heroine for Kayal. “But I was called Kayal on the sets of the film. Even Prabhu sir would call me Kayal as he felt it would help me get under the skin of the character better.”
“The passion with which he works and explains scenes to a newcomer like me just makes you fall in love with cinema. I’m basically a dancer and wasn’t too keen on getting into acting. A few films came along and I took them up. But Kayal has made me passionate about acting and I can no longer think of doing anything else,” says the newbie emphatically.
She plays Kayalvizhi (the one with fish-shaped eyes) in the film. One look at her eyes and you know she fits the image well! “The character’s name is inherent to the script and thus became the film’s title.”
Anandhi is from Hyderabad and doesn’t speak Tamil well, but has dubbed in her own voice for Kayal. She says it was a struggle to pick up the language in less than six months, but it was clearly an effort that paid off, considering she has now signed on Vetrimaaran’s film Visaranai. “I was shooting for Thanukumar’s Poriyaalan when he spotted me. I watched Aadukalam. I was already a huge fan of Dhanush but after watching the film, I became a big fan of Vetrimaaran as well. Working with stalwarts such as Prabhu Solomon and Vetrimaaran so early in my career, what more could I ask for?” she says.
