Playing a north Indian girl lent authenticity to my performance

I���ve always wanted to be an actress, but I didn���t take that dream seriously initially, thinking that every girl wants to be one at some point or the other in their lives,��� begins Shanaya, the Delhi-educated Punjabi lass who plays the heroine in Dhilluku Dhuddu. But offers of print ads and TV commercials kept coming her way (she has acted in over 350 ad films) making her take the decision to move to Mumbai and finally, she got her feature film offer with this Santhanam-starrer directed by Rambhala of Lollu Sabha fame.
Interestingly, though she is making her Tamil debut, Chennai isn���t new to Shanaya.���My father is in the Air Force, so we lived here for a year or two when I was a baby. And I���ve worked on at least 40 ads here, including one with actor Vijay,��� she reveals.
Shanaya plays Kajal, a ���modern, rich, girl-next-door��� in the film, and says that the fact that the character is a north Indian was an advantage. ���Saurabh Shukla sir plays my dad. Playing a north Indian girl, and acting alongside someone from there, lent authenticity to my performance,��� she says.
The moment she was told she would be acting alongside Santhanam, she says she checked out videos of Lollu Sabha and songs from his films as a hero. ���I did not understand the language, but I could get a vibe of his acting style and familiarise myself with it,��� she explains.
She calls Santhanam ���an ocean of talent��� and says that on the set, the actor was focussed and hardworking. ���Most importantly, he is a good human being,��� she adds and terms acting alongside him a ���great learning experience��� because even though they had a bound script, Santhanam and Rambhala would modify the lines or scenes on the spot to enhance the material. ���The entire unit understood each other so well that it gave us room for such spontaneity,��� she adds. The film is set for a July 7 release.