Sai Pallavi is back on screens with the intensely romantic film ‘Virataparvam’ with the backdrop of naxalite movement in Telangana. She plays the role of Vennela inspired by true life. The film is directed by Venu Udugula
From the time Telugu people began to watch ‘Premam’ in Malayalam to now as they cant get enough of her in film after film, Sai Pallavi has slowly but surely made her way into the hearts of Telugu film audience. It isn’t a new phenomenon for the industry to import actor from Kerala film industry, which perhaps goes back a long time. Remember Sobhana, who danced her way to box office with the likes of Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna, and Revathi whose ‘Prema’ with Venkatesh remains in the list of the most romantic films of all time in Telugu films.
Nithya Menen, Keerthy Suresh, Samyuktha Menon, who made her Telugu debut with Pawan Kalyan’s ‘Bheemla Nayak, Anupama Parameswaran, Anu Emanuel, Madonna Sebastian, who acted in ‘Shyam Singha Roy’, Priyamani, Amala Paul, Aishwarya Lekshmi, who will be seen in Satyadev’s ‘Godse’ are just few of the actresses who are Malayalis.
Sai Pallavi not just made a name for herself in Mollywood before ruling the roost here, she now has directors writing roles with her in mind, and fans now call her Lady Superstar.
She belongs to a small community called Baduga, from the Nilgiri region in Tamil Nadu. MBBS doctor by education, and a brilliant dancer, her first role as Malar established her as an actor to reckon with. Now after several other roles, awards and accolades, she continues to remain the same girl from a conservative community, who knows what she wants and how she wants to be. “When I go back home, no body treats me like a star. I am the daughter, grand daughter – our girl – back home – being myself and part of my family, helping them when guests are at home. And, that core is what keeps me here, like this,” she shares.
The last couple of years, when the entire world was shut down due to covid, Telugu audience got to watch Shekar Kammula’s ‘Love Story’ where Sai Pallavi is seen sharing an amazing chemistry with Naga Chaitanya. And, once again we got to watch her dancing prowess at its full glory. This was followed by the more recent release ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ where she plays the role of a Devadasi from Kolkata in all resplendence.
She is back on screens with the intensely romantic film ‘Virataparvam’ with the backdrop of naxalite movement in Telangana. She plays the role of Vennela inspired by true life. The film is directed by Venu Udugula.
This isn’t the first film with Telangana background that Sai Pallavi has acted in. Her first Telugu film ‘Fidaa’ directed by Shekar Kammula with Varun Tej sees her acing the Telangana dialect. The film went on to become a hit of course. Then there was ‘Love Story’ followed by ‘Virataparvam’. She jokingly says she might have been from Telangana in her previous birth and maintains that she gets the mannerisms and disposition quite naturally.
On her process of getting into a role, she says she does internalise the character before portraying it. “The writing is done so well that it becomes easy for me to play the character. For me I try to do as many different characters as possible. I agreed to ‘Virataparvam’ because it was written so honestly. At the time I was not even aware that Rana will agree to do the role. After he came on board the film went to another level,” she explains.
A few years and a bunch of films later, Sai Pallavi already has a dedicated audience who relate to her well chosen roles, and the directors are writing roles keeping her in mind, which is a huge step for her as an actress and for cinema, which urgently needs strong roles for women.
In that sense ‘Virataparvam’ is a film based on Vennela’s life and Venu Udugula says – he could only visualise her in the role, while writing the story. “She is an amazing actor. I feel like I should do more films with her,” he adds.
On the other hand she explains her quest for good roles, “We are mortal. It is art that lives on, and I want to be remembered for my art,” she states.
As her film is all set to release tomorrow, netizens are caught up in the controversy over her comments of killing people over religion. In her simple matter of fact way she mentioned in one of her interviews about how any killing in the name of religion is bad. And, it takes courage to say what she believes in, While scores of her fans are rushing to support her, there are a few who put this statement out of context and are slamming her. One just hopes that the mad ways of the world do not disillusion this amazing human being.
“I do get angry. Many days I carry back the anger and stress home. And sadly I am taking it on my parents, who are wondering what happened to their sweet daughter. I am also meditating every day, and that is helping me bring down my anxiety and stress,” she reveals.
