I can’t be a doll all the time

Nithya Menen is back after a brief hiatus from Telugu films and she’s as effervescent as ever. Postnoon gets talking to the extremely talented actress at her candid best

Nithya Menen has remained something of an enigma. Last year, she made her debut in Telugu with Ala Modalaindi and she won the Nandi Award for Best Actress for this role. It seemed like the world was at her doorstep but she kept on rejecting offers and had to deal with a couple of controversies as well. Yet, she doesn’t feel the need to clarify her stand on several issues. “It does hurt when people misunderstand me, but I don’t have the energy to clarify things.

Acting is a very personal thing for me. I am an actress, not a public figure,” Nithya says. She doesn’t like being in the limelight either and she rarely is in news, except when her films are about to release. “I find it really difficult to conform to certain ways, which everyone accepts. Since I don’t do that, I get into trouble,” she clarifies without going into too many details.

Of late, she has been doing quite a lot of Malayalam films and will soon be part of a couple of Kannada films. “I have been getting good projects in Malayalam. I really want to be part of good films where I have a substantial role,” she says and goes on to add, “In Bachelor Party, I had a very different look. In another film, I played a Muslim girl. So there’s something I could do in those films. I can’t be a doll all the time.” We ask her if she regrets her decision to reject several films in Telugu.

“I have no regrets. Most of the films I have said no to had nothing for me and I don’t want to be part of such films. In fact, I should be doing lesser films. One of the reasons why people say that Ishq has a fresh look is because I haven’t done 100 films already,” she smiles. We couldn’t agree more. She has lost oodles of weight and looks more charming than ever before. “Really? I don’t think so. I am tired and exhausted since I have been working a lot in the past few months,” she argues.

After Ala Modalaindi, Ishq was one of the few films she had signed besides Sega and 180. What was so special about Ishq? “Vikram narrated the first half of the film and I could see that there’s a lot of spunk in the story and there’s a lot of heart in it like in Ala Modalaindi. I like the way he treated my character in the film. Besides, PC Sreeram was part of the film,” she replies. So how was it working with one of the finest cinematographers in the country?

“The experience was unbelievable. He understood me very well and I could relate to it because he’s also misunderstood most of the times. I don’t know why people are scared of him because he’s extremely sweet and down to earth,” Nithya says with a sparkle in her eyes. Any fond memories? “I really had a great time shooting for the songs.

There was no choreography and everything we did was quite impromptu. Besides, I sang a song in the film and it feels nice to get a credit along with Adnan Sami, although we didn’t sing it together.” If given a choice between acting and singing, what would she pick? “Singing, of course. It’s less controversial,” she says, while laughing.

She’s currently acting in Srinivas Raga’s Okkadine where she’s paired with Nara Rohit. For someone who never wanted to be an actress, she has done quite well in the past few years. Has she finally accepted her new career? “I think I have reached a point where I am making peace with it. I still want to do other things, but I realised that it’s better that I am happy with what I am doing,” she signs off.

Tags: Ala Modalaindi, featured, full-image, Nandi Award, Nithya Menen, Srinivas Raga

Category: Cinema, Tollywood