The petite Punjabi Telugu-Hindi actress Rakul Preet Singh is going places.
Having conquered the Telugu film industry with a slew of successes she is back in Mumbai . This time it’s a film directed by Neeraj Pandey called Aiyaary opposite Siddharth Malhotra.
“Yes. I guess it’s official now. I am doing that film.For some time I had to keep quiet about it because producers wanted to make their own announcement,” says Rakul who admits it got awkward saying no about signing a film when she had actually signed it.
Rakul who started her career with a Kannada film Gilli in 2009 did her first Hindi film Yaariyan for T Series in 2013. She admits doing another Hindi film is like homecoming for her.
“Can you imagine a Punjabi girl from an army officer’s family , I was in college doing my BSC in mathematics,barely able to understand life, trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I got this offer to do a Kannada film. At that time I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Acting was not even an option. I was doing some modeling when this offer to do a film came my way. I agreed only because I was offered Rs 5 lakhs for it.Can you imagine what 5 lakhsmeant for a girl in college 8 years ago whose pocket money was Rs 2,000?”
Rakul says she agreed only for the money.
After Gilli Rakul was flooded with Kannada offers . But she chose to go back to college. “By then I was pretty sure I wanted be an actor. But I wanted to complete my education, so I’d have something to fall back on if I didn’t succeed in films.”
She returned , this time with a Telugu film Keratam.After that there was no looking back.
“I’ve done close to 18-19 films in Telugu since 2011.How do I work so much? I don’t need much sleep. Can’t say it has been a rapid climb. Rather my success was slow and steady. In fact for the first film I did in Telugu I chose to do a guest appearance rather than the lead.”
Then followed the leads in a succession of Telugu hits and todayRakul is in the top league in Telugu cinema. “Most of the film I did were hits. Today I am proud to say I am doing well for myself. Andi can speak Telugu fluently, though I haven’t done my own dialogues in any of my Telugu films, except one where I played a London-based character. Not being in Andhra Pradesh my character could get away with some mistakes in the Telugu diction.Here, as you know, they are are very particular about how the lines are spoken.”
Rakul says she has not been particularly hit by the patriarchal system of working in Telugu cinema. “Of course there is male dominance in Telugu cinema. But nothing that has affected my career or put me in aseconday situation. You will find men dominating in every work place of this country.So why should cinema not be male-dominated?”
In her next Telugu release Spyder, Rakul is paired with MaheshBabu. But she is not embarrassed about the length of her role. “I’ve a very interesting part as a medical student who is a little weird and very clumsy. She has her own ideas on life and living and I am quite amused and surprised by what my character expects in life.”
Rakul’s own expectations are simple. “Good well-defined roles in cinema of any language,be it Telugu, Tamil or Hindi. I don’t think language is a barrier any longer. Look at what Baahubali has achieved.”
