M atrimony has robbed the film industry of many a talented actress purely because of a certain lopsided mindset. I mean most of the reigning male stars are married. This forces female stars to wait for their fortunes to diminish before ‘settling down’, but not in Priyamani’s case. She is at the peak of her powers and in fact the best thing about the otherwise terrible ‘Dana Kayonu’. She shone in ‘Idolle Ramayana’ too. On-screen Priyamani is still a fine blend of smouldering good looks and intensity. She is very clear the announcement that she’s getting married does not mean renouncing her career. The ball is now in the court of a few warped minds which assume and decide what will work for the rest of the paying populace.
Excerpts from a conversation:
Do we still live in times where offers dwindle when a female star announces her engagement?
Yes, we do.
Did you give this a long thought before announcing?
I did not. When you are getting engaged there’s no point in hiding it. We were not going to pretend to be just good friends. I was pretty clear and I wanted the whole world to know. I share most things with my fans, near and dear ones and it happened to be one of the happiest days of my life. I announced it on social media.
The social media is a double-edged sword.
You cannot expect everyone to unanimously like everything you do, be it a performance or a personal decision. You have to be ready to take the pros and cons. People said I overacted in my debut film with Bharathi Rajaa but the same people praised me in Balu Mahendra’s film. I’m okay with diverse opinions, personal or professional because I’m in the limelight.
In hindsight, 13 years is a long run for a heroine. It did take some time for you to get a foothold in the industry initially.
Yes and it did take some time to establish myself. I’m still trying to get a foothold. Just because I’ve won a National Award it doesn’t mean I’ve achieved everything. It’s still a struggle to get good scripts.
One of the criteria for landing a Balu Mahendra film is being dusky and a slight resemblance to Shobha. Did he mention this to you?
He did not mention that to me. It was my second film and he’d already made ‘Moondram Pirai’. My manager called to tell me they were looking for a heroine, so I went to his office. I still remember there was this elderly make-up person, by far the best I’ve worked with. He applied basic make-up, just enough to cover a few blemishes but Balu Sir spotted that too. He made me wash it off because I was to play a domestic help. He took some pictures and had faith in my abilities. That’s how I got the film. He was a cinema magician.
Do you think it was Balu’s film that probably got you ‘Paruthi Veeran’ because Ameer was Bala’s assistant?
In a way I think so. The film had just got released and my manager said Ameer was looking for me. I didn’t know who he was but eventually met him. He had mentioned that he wanted a girl like the one in Balu’s film. I was supposed to return to Bangalore that night but got a call saying we had to travel to Theni that very day. We were about ten people and were going to take pictures to get a fair idea. We travelled around doing photo shoots at the actual locations. I returned and started getting calls congratulating me for landing ‘Paruthi Veeran’. I didn’t even know the title but that’s when I came to know I was in the film.
The performance was very uninhibited…
Very true and I give the credit to Ameer and Karthi though it was his debut. I can proudly claim I was his senior by a couple of films. It was the first time I was playing a village girl and all credit to Ameer for extracting stand out performances from the entire cast. It was hard work for the cast and crew. Everyone was patient even though the weather was at its extreme. Ameer would wait for a particular amount of sunlight or clouds. There was a quest for perfection.
Were you also a victim of the National Award syndrome?
Not really because I wanted to break that mould. I consciously took a decision to do commercial films where irrespective of the fate of the film my performance was noted. I do try to live up to the reputation of a National Award winner with every film I act in.
You’re a Bangalore girl but it took quite a long time for you to debut in Kannada.
Yes. Honest to God I was busy in other languages and wanted to make the right debut. I did get a lot of offers. The Kannada industry was relatively smaller but that was not the reason. ‘Raam’ was a perfect launch because it had Puneeth and it was a proven subject in Telugu.
You’ve sort of come a full circle because nowadays when people want a strong performance they think of you. Are you content?
You can’t ever be content because there’s a hunger to learn more. I want to do more. It all depends on the industry and whether they want to accept me. I’m still hungry for good roles with the best of talents.
So marriage is not the end of the road for you as an actress?
Personally no, but it depends on the industry. The responsibilities for me may change but as long as I have the support of my family they should give me a chance. Marriage should not mean that I’ll only get to play the sister or sister-in-law. That doesn’t make sense.
