We Indians have a chalta hai attitude

Shriya Saran, who will be seen in the upcoming Hindi film Gali Gali Chor Hai, doesn’t mind taking a stand when required

There are a handful of stars from the South Indian film industry who enjoy a pan Indian presence and Shriya Saran is one of them. Though a North Indian, Shriya has enjoyed great success in the South Indian film industry be it Telugu or Tamil. Quiz the pretty lady if the mass appeal has helped her and she is quick to agree, “It helps to have a pan Indian image as people recognise you easily and connect with you. People speaking different languages connecting with you is by no way an easy feat.” She then goes on to add, “Though I will always remain obliged to the South Indian film industry which is my bread and butter. I am happy that I started my career here and this is where I have achieved success, I have been good, bad and ugly yet people here have always given me chances and accepted me.”

While Shriya has played a multitude of roles in different languages, her next release Rumi Jaffery’s directorial Gali Gali Chor Hai has Shriya playing a dance teacher. talking about the film, Shriya says, “Rumi is an acclaimed writer and his film is a satire on the corrupt system which is existent in our country currently. It’s an intelligent comedy which will make you come out thinking how you can stand up and bring about change.” She goes on to add, “It’s not a film about the blame game, rather it concentrates on the power that lies within the hand of a common man to change things.” It is a simple film based in Bhopal which is a beautiful city in itself. Going on to share more about the film and her role in it, Shriya says, “It’s is a well-crafted film which represents the audience in a particular way. Most of us get lost in our routine life and forget the deeper self and things around. In this film, I play the role of a small town girl married to Akshaye who teaches street children and her favourite character from history is Rani Lakshmi Bai but she is oblivious to the surroundings. It is only towards the end that she understands what her husband is going through and gets involved in the process of change.”

We wanted to know if Shriya has personally ever experienced corruption in real life. “Directly I have never had to face anyone corrupt so far, thankfully, but yes I have heard people having to give a bribe here and there to get their work done,” offers Shriya. “We Indians have a chalta hai attitude which is the main hindrance to change. Even to get a passport here, we get woven into corruption. It is so subtle that it doesn’t really hit us that much and we just move on without sparing much thought to it or else it will become hard to survive,” she says.

Shriya was working with a very interesting starcast in the film. Talking about Akshaye Khanna she says, “He is a very intense actor and very hardworking too. He comes prepared to the set and knows exactly what he is doing.” But it was Mugdha Godse with whom Shriya hit it off, “Mugdha is a very good friend, she used to always take care of me and we used to chill out together. We even worked out together and we had great fun on the sets,”says Shriya.

Tags: actress, bollywood, featured, full-image, Gali Gali Chor Hai, Shriya Saran, South Indian film industry

Category: Bollywood