Radhika Pandit did Zoom for Ganesh

Zoom is Radhika Pandit's first release for the year. But that is just one of the many firsts that this film offers her. From pairing with Ganesh, to turning singer and doing comedy, there are a lot of firsts for Radhika. Ahead of the release of the film, she speaks to Bangalore Times about working on Zoom.
First comedy
There are two major reasons that compelled me to take up Zoom. First and foremost is the fact that this is an out-and-out comedy ' a genre that I had never tried before.I have always felt that making people laugh is difficult and that the comedy has to be really good to be able to do that. Zoom seemed to have the perfect script for that and when you have artistes like Ganesh, Sadhu Kokila and Kashinath, whose forte is comedy, I thought this film will be packed with stuff that will highlight the humour in the subject and wanted to be a part of it.
Second, is the team. This is my third film with director Prashant Raj. I have always had a good time working with his team. Right from Love Guru, Gaana Bajaana and now, Zoom, he has always given me a different look. His subjects are very easy-going and not melodramatic, which kind of reflects his personality ' fun-loving.
Pairing with Ganesh
This is my first film with Ganesh. In the past, there have been offers to work with him, but somehow, it never really worked out. In fact, Prashant's first film, Love Guru, was meant to be a Ganesh film. But everything came together for Zoom. Working with Ganesh was fun; he has the most amazing comic timing. You can't go prepared to set when you are working with actors like Ganesh or Sadhu. They are very spontaneous. When you are canning a shot, you have to be prepared to react to something that may not have happened during rehearsals. You have to be really alert. Offscreen also, Ganesh is quite the fun guy, and that reflects onscreen.
Playing Naina
I liked my character, Naina, in the film. She is the creative head of an ad agency. She is bold, independent and very correct in what she does. She believes in hard work and that you can achieve success only through hard work. But then, you can succeed through smart work as well, by using techniques that don't require you to slog that much. You just need to use your brain in a smarter way. For Naina, even if her success is delayed, she wants it the right way and works for it. Ganesh's view is exactly the opposite and he follows the smart work approach. Much of the comedy track in the film revolves around which method is right and how these two characters clash over this. I related to this character, because I have also come up in my career through sheer hard work.

Turning singer
Before Zoom, I had offers to sing in films that I was not a part of and I had politely turned everyone down because I was not confident about my singing skills. I have no knowledge of music and I don't do things that I am not comfortable about. But the team of Zoom insisted that I try it out, considering that Hey Deewana is a fun song. Honestly, I really liked the song while shooting for it and then they got Sriimurali to sing the male voice bits, so I was like, 'OK, let's give it a shot'. I was very clear that my version was not to be used if it did not sound good. In fact, when we were recording, I thought I sounded fine, but music director S Thaman would say that I got the notes wrong. Eventually, though, it turned out well and I guess it came from the confidence that I had that this was my film and I had the freedom to tell the team whether to use it or not.