Toby and I have become very close now : Keerthi Suresh

Geethanjali fame Keerthi Suresh had no idea what she was in for when she signed in for Rafi’s Dileep-starrer, Ringmaster. The actor plays Karthika, a blind girl, who is always accompanied by a guide dog. “I always liked dogs but never got to keep one. In the film, Toby, the St Bernard, is my constant companion, and after a point it seemed like he was my pet in real,” says the actress.
Toby plays her companion while Diana, a golden retriever, is Dileep’s pet in the film. “Toby is huge, almost my weight. His memory amazes me in that after a schedule break, he still remembers me and comes and shakes hands, he is really cute,” says Keerthi. Since the dogs are not actually trained, the shoot of the film is taking longer than usual, but Keerthi is not complaining. “They have their moods and at times just run off. Toby has a few scenes where he is angry, but so far he never showed his angry side with me,” says the actress.
However, playing a blind girl is not easy, she admits. “I looked up a few films as reference points, but didn’t want to copy them. There is a certain way the eyes of the blind move, which is very crucial. But once I mastered it, I’m not able to get out of it at times. I wake up in the morning and find my eyes focusing like the blind!”
Keerthi has a handful of film offers in Malayalam, but hasn’t confirmed any of them yet. Her parents, former actress Menaka and producer Sureshkumar, do not discuss films much with her but play an important role in selection, she says. “I leave the task of choosing films to my parents, especially my mother. I trust her experience in the field,” she says.
Meanwhile, Keerthi is now planning to get a dog for herself. “We are a vegetarian family and I was under the impression that dogs can survive only on non-veg food. But apparently they eat veg food as well. I want to get a dog now,” says the young actress.