Meet Nandini Rai, Ganesh's love interest

Golden Star Ganesh’s New Year release — Khushi Khushiyaagi — brings Hyderabad lass Nandini Rai to Sandalwood. The light-eyed actress plays the second lead in the film, which is the Kannada version of the Telugu hit Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde. “I play the character that Isha Talwar did in the original. It’s a nice role — that of a designer — who the hero initially falls for. The role apart, I took up the second lead role for my Kannada film debut because I know that Ganesh and Amulya already have a track record of being a hit pair.They have a huge fan following, which will work well for the film,” says Nandini.
The offer for the film, she says, came rather unexpectedly. “The producers had dropped by on the set of my second Telugu film, Swami Ra Ra 2, in which I am paired with Sudhir Babu (Mahesh Babu’s brother-in-law). A few days later, I got a call from Yogi, asking me to come to Bengaluru and audition for the role,” says the actress, adding that showbiz happened to her by chance.
“I am basically from Hyderabad, but have been raised a little in London, as my mom lives there. I used to travel back and forth between India and the UK. After I came back, I was in school at St Ann’s in Hyderabad, when actress Soundarya came looking for a nice bubbly girl for an ad she was shooting for. I got selected to act as her kid. I was very young then, but I knew she was a star and just seeing her with her bodyguards and the people jostling to catch a glimpse of her was mind-boggling, and that stuck with me. Since then, I dreamt of being a star. As a first step, I participated in a state-level beauty contest in 2010, which I won, following which I got to do a TV commercial with Nagarjuna. In fact, I was the face of an international motorcycle brand, even though I am not a biker chick,” she says.
Khushi Khushiyaagi, incidentally, is only Nandini’s second film, and working with Ganesh, she says, made life easier for her on the set. “There were no starry tantrums on his behalf, and he was very understanding and helpful, given that I did not know the language. In fact, very often he would mouth my dialogues so that I could repeat them easily. He was also very particular that I was comfortable on and off the set, especially during our foreign schedule in Phuket,” she says.
The Phuket trip, adds Nandini, will stay with her forever.
“I have a water phobia, which Ganesh sir and Yogi knew. Yet, for the song Neene Neene, they decided to shoot it completely in water. There I was, standing in water, with crabs running around and water snakes slithering by. I was shivering in every shot. I lost count of the number of times choreographer Harsha sir screamed at me. I was so scared that I was in tears all the time. Ganesh sir and Yogi would then console me and minutes later, I’d be back in the water. It was quite a scary experience for me,” says Nandini, who is excited about her next trip to Bengaluru.
“I will be catching the first day, first show of the film with the whole team, after which I fly out to Europe for the songs of my Telugu films. But I hope to be back here soon,” she signs off.