‘Web series get more attention than films these days’

You probably don’t know this, but Sunainaa is among the very few heroines to have worked across all four South Indian languages. Quite recently, she returned to Telugu cinema after a decade with Pelliki Mundu Prema Katha. “When I was new to the industry, I tried my hand at all the languages. In fact, even now, my parents push me to try working in other states. I’m leaning towards doing Malayalam now, given the general quality of their filmmaking. But my comfort zone has always been Tamil cinema,” says the Kadhalil Vizhunthen actor who’s got a few Tamil projects in the offing, including Kaali, Enai Noki Paayum Thota and a web series. 

Her first release this year is Kaali with Vijay Antony, by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi of Vanakkam Chennai fame. “I signed up for the film while shooting for Thondan, and I’m glad Kiruthiga chose me to play a character with such a heavy backstory. I guess she thought I’d fit because she knows me from my Neerparavai days. It was a film produced by Red Giant Movies, helmed by her husband, Udhayanidhi Stalin.” The actor plays a village belle in the film, a character she had great success playing in films like Vamsam and Neerparavai. “I loved working with Kiruthiga. She’s very relaxed; there was almost no yelling on the sets.” 

She’s also quite excited about the web series she’s signed on. “I see it as another project, not one that’s too different from films. I got excited about its subject. I can’t wait to talk about it. It’s every actor’s dream to do something different and I’m glad this web series happened. The only difference when compared to films is the long hours we put in at work,” she says, and adds that web series grabs more eyeballs today than films. 

“My mother, for instance, watches web series on her phone. People seem to find it far more convenient to watch films on their phone than going to the theatre.”The web series is by JS Nandhini, who had previously made the comedy, Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru. “Nandhini is such an intelligent director and I got to learn a lot. All I can tell you about the subject of this series is that it’s about something that we’ve only seen in bits and pieces in our films — never as a whole,” she says. 

News about the web series got spilled when the crew was questioned what they were shooting for, given that shooting for feature films is presently banned on account of the strike. “We had to let out it was for a web series, but I’ve told my friends to stay away from the sets to maintain the suspense factor. In a month’s time, we will make an official announcement, and share with you details of the cast.” I point out that she’s worked with two female directors continuously. “There’s no difference between working with directors of either gender honestly. At the end of the day, directors make films based on what they’ve seen in their lives. But it’s important to have more women making films, for, no home can be said to be one without women in them. It’s the same with sets for me,” she says.

Sunainaa is also a part of Enai Noki Paayum Thota that’s been in the making for a while now. “Gautham sir is famous for writing strong women characters and it’s the same here. I play a character with substantial screen time; it’s a character quite important to the story.” For the moment, she’s decided against accepting more scripts. “I guess I was not really prepared for the amount of work that goes into making a web series. Once work on this gets over, I’ll get on with signing projects from May.”