YAMI BAGS SIRISH FILM :TOI

YAMI BAGS SIRISH FILM

The 'Vicky Donor' actress, who is starring in the bilingual 'Gouravam', gets chatty with Hyderabad Times

Elina Priyadarshini Padhiary

After making a promising debut in Bollywood with "Vicky Donor", Yami Gautam, who was last seen in the Tollywood flick "Nuvilla", will be next seen in Allu Sirish's debut film, the Tamil-Telugu bilingual "Gouravam". The actress who is no stranger to the Southern film industry, has acted in the Kannada film "Ullasa Utsaha" and the recently-released Malayalam film "Hero".
excerpts from an interview… How's life after your B-wood debut with "Vicky Donor"?
Life's been great. Frankly speaking, the overwhelming response to "VD" was unexpected. It's crucial these days to be recognised and for that you need to have the right platform and conviction. This film has established me as an actress and I'm happy that the hard work had paid. The appreciation hasn't changed me as a person. Only my priorities and focus have changed.
And how does Bollywood treat you now?
I'm still getting compliments for my role in "VD". To live up to audience's expectations, I need to choose my next film with care. Recently, I had been to my hometown Chandigarh and people who watched my film were convinced that I was a Bengali girl. When I told them that I am from Punjab, they were surprised.
Given the success of the film, which was on a sensitive subject like sperm donation, do you think today's audience are more receptive to bold films?
I'm happy that our audience took the film in a positive spirit. We all knew that the issue was very sensitive, and the film was handled with lot of care by director Shoojit Sircar. We all had complete faith in him. We knew that the youth could relate to the film, but the fact that families came together to watch the it was a real achievement.
How did "VD" happen?
It had been a combination of both luck and a conscious decision to be on the big screen. After my daily soap "Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam", I wasn't happy with the kind of roles I was getting and creatively I wasn't satisfied. So, I took up what appealed to me and TV commercials happened. After seeing that, the casting director of the film called me for the auditions and I got selected.
So, any plans to stage a comeback on TV?
I'm not on TV shows anymore, but I am very much on TV. A few of my commercials are running regularly and I will continue to do them. But yes, the medium has changed. No more daily soaps for me. Once you move ahead, how can you turn back?
Are you doing the Telugu film "Yuddham" and "Hero" in Malyalam?
I'm not doing "Yuddham", but you'll see me next in a Tamil-Telugu bilingual. And I have finished shooting for the Malayalam film "Hero" with Prithviraj. I'm happy to be part of so many regional films, especially down South, where there's fantastic work happening. Reports suggest that your next film "Hamara Bajaj" is again with Ayushman, directed by Shoojit Sircar and produced by John Abraham…
Be it "Hamara Bajaj" or any other platform, it would be an honour for me to work with all of them again, because I owe my success to them! And, about doing "Hamara Bajaj", talks are definitely on, but I haven't spoken to them on an official level yet. May be people want to see us together again as we have come out as a strong team (laughs).
Don't you wish to do a solo lead with John Abraham some day?
Why not, if the script is good we can definitely work together in future. And must say he handles marketing so well and presented "Vicky Donor" fantastically.
Nowadays, even a lot of South stars are switching over to Bollywood?
Well, that's a good trend. In fact, even I'm doing films in both the industries. If you get to work in good films as an actor why not go for it. It's a big challenge to work down South where Hindi is not spoken much. I tried my best to learn the language and then dub it. So, it's important to push your limits and do creative things.
elina.nayak@timesgroup.com

Yami Gautam