The cockroach model & the real story

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad model and actor Shruthika Varma talks about how everyone can create entertaining content if they stopped just aping the actors and started using the amazing array of apps and filters on smartphones. Her recent video where a cockroach plays around her face went viral and she shares the secret of making such impactful videos

If Tollywood director SS Rajamouli can make a movie with Eega as the hero, so can she, with a cockroach, thought Hyd e r abad model Shruthika Varma during the Covid-19 lockdown time. And guess what, her 15-second video did garner one crore views on day one itself. “The cockroach video has proven to me that in this world suffering from pandemic and infodemic, where there is too much to read and watch, only the creative folks will survive. The rest will end up as posts in your timeline,” she says rather philosophically. Shruthika, known as model Jenney Honey in the modeling circuit of Hyderabad, says that as a model who has done over 2,000 projects from billboards to ramp events to catalogues, she was always an onfield person and finding herself confined to home threw her out of her gear.

“I just chilled out the first ten days and sleepwalked through the day. But it got to me soon and I wanted to do something creative. I started exploring the apps and filters on my smartphone.” This Kavuri Hills resident then decided to stop doing regular photos, videos or cinema TikTok posts and come up with a creative concept. “When I posted the cockroach video, many thought that the insect ran around my face and I shot the video. Others thought that I had used some complex graphics and SFX to come up with it. All that I did was to scour the Youtube learn the tricks of the trade.”

Armed with an OnePlus smartphone and high-speed broadband at home, she uses software such as KineMaster to create videos. The TikToker (@ jennyhoney.official) with 468.1K followers has also caught everyone’s attention with her videos in which she changes over into a toddler, or in a flash switches her look from a shabbily dressed slob to a glamorous diva. “Yes, it took me about three days to understand that I have to shoot the same video standing in the exact same pose and do the exact same thing, but in a different outfit and then merge the too using some editing software.”

In fact, a video when she twins with herself and one where she dances to a rhythm and then her virtual twin shoots the video but ends up dancing like her is also one that garnered her a lot of appreciation. She has made 40 such creative videos in the last two months and has posted 18 of them so far. “Now that I feel that I have a good number of people following me, I do not just want to entertain, but use it to convey something forceful. If not about changing the world, but at least about changing themselves for the better,” says this Vizag ammayi who moved to Hyderabad five years ago for modeling work.

“As a catalog model, my photograph is there in almost every kurti set, but people rarely notice my work. So these videos, where I am the director and I am the hero, have put my looks and my talent und e r t h e s p o t - l i g h t , ” says the actor who has signed for two Telugu movies and one OTT series. So what sparks off creativity in her? “The sun is my best friend now. I used to be an owl due to work, but in the last two months, I have realised how sunrises can change your mood and your entire vibe.

I have not missed a single day of sunrise watching or my yoga on my terrace and I believe that this has immensely contributed to my creativity.” She believes that one doesn’t even need things like tripods or high-end DSLR cameras. “ In fact, I hate to spend even `100 for light. So when I felt the daylight was poor, I would simply get an LED light from the restroom, use and put it back. Creativity and jugaad are your best friends when it comes to good content,” she remarks. — Manju Latha Kalanidhi kalanidhi@newindianexpress. com @mkalan