Priya Anand is on a whirlwind tour in Tamil Nadu, promoting her latest film, Kootathil Oruthan, which released today. We caught up with her late in the night, as she was travelling from Tiruchi to Madurai by road.
She plays a meaty role in the film, and is paired with Ashok Selvan. “While I portray the role of an over-achiever, Ashok plays the role of Arvind, an individual who plays it safe and does not want any challenges in life,” says Priya. “Janani, the name of the character I play, excels in co-curricular activities and success comes naturally to her. But Arvind is content applauding the efforts of others and he’s a typical middle-bencher. My character doesn’t even notice him, though he’s in the same class.” How this under-achiever goes on to transform himself to stand out from the crowd forms the crux of the story, she adds.
“Initially, I hated Ashok’s look. He had to underplay his role and camouflage his good looks and look stupid. I used to tease him every day. But I was awestruck to see him transform and emerge into a lovable and successful youth as the shooting progressed. Hats off to Ashok for such a splendid performance and for making his character so endearing,” she says.
Back to college
Being a campus film, it was shot entirely at VIT, Vellore. “The entire cast and crew stayed in the campus and there was so much laughter and fun. The film was shot a year ago, but even today we share the same rapport when we meet,” she says.
“Even while the shooting of the film was in progress, I was tremendously positive regarding the outcome,” says Priya, adding that she was reminded of Ethir Neechal while on the sets. “Just like Ethir Neechal turned out to be a turning point for Anirudh and Sivakarthikeyan, I am sure Kootathil Oruthan will be a turning point for Ashok and Nivas Prasanna.”
A linguist, Priya can fluently speak Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Spanish. Bengali? “Yes, I learnt to speak Bengali as I had a lot of Bengali friends. I love the sound of the language and was fascinated and gradually picked it up as it is easy to understand and learn. And while I was studying in the US, I learnt Spanish. I would love to act in a Bengali film in the future,” says Priya, who has completed two schedules of her upcoming Bollywood film, Fukrey Returns.