The cute ten-year-old Raina Rao from the city is set to make a splash on August 5 when her film Manamantha releases worldwide. The student from Chirec uses her words carefully while giving her first interview to the media. “We discuss movies in school with friends. They ask me what I did and something about the shoot. I do tell them about my experience without revealing the plot; I never let the story out,” she says.
Manamantha directed by Chandrasekhar Yeleti is releasing in Tamil and Malayalam as well and the film has created a buzz with the presence of Mohanlal and Gautami. There are four stories and each has a protagonist, with Raina Rao playing the lead in one story. Multi-talented Raina might be facing the camera for the first time but has been taking part in theatre since the age of six. “I attended acting classes conducted by Vinay Varma uncle. I also belong to the family of actors. (She’s the daughter of Sridhar and Vidya Rao). So acting comes naturally to me. I take part in extra curricular activities like gymnastics, Kuchipudi, Kathak and belly dancing. I enjoy acting and facing the camera; it is fun. I try to get my emotions right and I take instructions from the director.”
Raina discusses films at home and takes advice from her parents and tries to balance her work and studies well. She says her family wants her to be a doctor so at the moment she is focusing on studies and will do films only if she has a ‘good’ role. “I am currently going with the flow. My sister is a doctor. Our family is full of doctors and actors and there is a mix of engineers too. My Pedanana (Vasudeva Rao) is also an actor. My father acted in Budugu, Komarama Puli, Dammu, Bangaram . My mom acted in Oohalu Gusagusalade, Arya, Lakshmi Rave Maa Intiki . My mom had a friend who was a director and offered me a role in his film Thakita Thakita . I acted in many advertisements too,” she avers.
Raina reveals that her name in Spanish means queen and in Hindi it is dusk. She talks like an absolute professional when the topic moves to Manamantha . “I play a middle class school girl and you will find me throughout the film. The film had turned out so well. I saw the portions during dubbing. I had quite a few interactions with Mohanlal and Gautami. They were both friendly and supportive to me on the sets; Gautami aunty helped me with my look and I got dressed according to those tips. Mohanlal uncle taught me a bit of Malayalam. I would go home and study after shoot as that was the exam time,” she signs off.
