Padmapriya to start innings in Bengali films

Kolkata: With a string of hits in the south to her credit, actress Padmapriya Janakiraman is all set to start her innings in Bengal with `Aparajita Tumi` by director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury.

The trained `Bharatnatyam` danseuse, having acted in at least 30 movies in such languages as Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and even Hindi, said she had been nursing a wish for a long time to act in Bengali films. "And when Tonyda (Aniruddha) approached me for acting in his next film, I lapped it up. In addition, I got to be paired with fabulous actor Bumbada (Prosenjit). What else can one expect to have a perfect launch in Bengali films?" Padmapriya wondered. She said though she can`t speak Bengali, she never felt out of sync, partly because she shot many scenes in San Fransisco and some other parts in the United States. Asked if she was interested in working with directors like Srijit Mukherjee of `Autograph` fame, she said, "From my experience I feel if the process is right the output always more or less hits the bull`s eye and then it does not matter if you are making a `Baishe Shrabon` (Srijit`s last acclaimed film) or `Aparajita Tumi`." She said Srijit was a colleague and friend at Symphony in Bangalore and had worked together and shared a common interest in theatre. "So it was a pleasant surprise to have seen him become a director pursuing his dreams. As an actress I am totally open to offers as an individual and want to treat every opportunity with same spirit," Padmapriya said. "Though I can`t speak in Bengali, I have been to your place many times and follow the conversations in general. My mom stayed in your city," she gushed. On her future assignments elsewhere, Padmapriya said she would act in Tamil film `Thangameengal` (director Ram, Gautam Menon Productions), `Malayalam Cobra` (director Lal) co-starring Mamooty, (Playhouse Productions), `Malyalam No 66 Madurai Bus` (director MA Nishad costarring Pasupathy and Makarand Deshpande) and `Malyalam Evan Megharoopan` (director Balakrishna) as the ones she was counting really. She said though she had acted opposite most of southern actors, two of them she is still to work with - Mahesh Babu and Surya. PTI