Long gone are the days of her being a struggling actress, as of today Sindhu Loknath is counted as one of the most talented young artistes in the Kannada industry. Now, she has replaced Prajna in ‘Drama’ and Shubha Puthela in ‘Jai Bajarang Bali’. “I’m not stepping into anybody’s shoes. It’s just that their loss was my gain,” she clarifies.
The actress, who plays a mute girl in ‘Drama’, was initially auditioned by Yograj Bhat. “When I heard that another actress was finalised for the project, I was quite disappointed. Later, Yograj sir called me one night and asked me whether I could be a part of ‘Drama’. I did not even ask him about my role, I just accepted,” she explains. “As for ‘Jai Bhajarang Bali’, director Ravi Varma Gubbi called me after he watched my film, ‘Lifeu Ishtene’, and almost made me run around for 15 days only to check on my expressions and clicking photos. At one point, I was so frustrated, as he was testing my patience. I asked him whether I was a part of the film, and told him to let me go incase I wasn’t. He later finalized me,” Sindhu tells us.
Now, shuttling between Bangalore and Mysore, Sindhu is playing the role of a mute girl in Drama and an NRI character opposite Ajay in Jai Bhajarang... “I play a poor dumb character with long hair and long skirt. Then, when I’m back on the sets of ‘Jai Bhajarang...’, my body language needs to be changed to that of a glam, posh girl from Malaysia with my hair curled,” says Sindhu, who feels relieved to be saved from the lengthy dialogues of Yograj. “I was worried about how to go about perfecting the Kannada dialogues written by the director. But, I had to just gurgle for role, which has a humorous touch to it.”
Like a few other heroines, Sindhu acknowledges Yograj as a dream director. “I have always heard from other actresses, who have worked with him, and I completely agree. He explains the scenes and allows us to enact naturally. He says, ‘This is your boundary. Just react to the situation’. He doesn’t expect us to copy somebody else,” she says.
Apart from ‘Nan Life Alli’, what’s more interesting for Sindhu is her other project, ‘Sandalwood Saregama’, which she’s completed shooting for. “‘Sandalwood Saregama’ is not a heroine-based film. It’s a journey of how my other film, ‘Marayelare’, got shelved after 10 days of shoot, because of the hero’s tantrums and the tough times we went through when the film got stalled. I’m playing my original role, while Sharath Kadri has directed the film,” she says.
The actor, whom she is referring to is Chetan, who was once a ‘hot property’ among Kannada heroines. “Initially, I was also happy to work with him. But after the torture I underwent during those ten days, I would never want to work him again,” she asserts. The actress enjoys being a part of the industry, as she gets to play different characters, but would not want to get carried away with plenty of offers in her hand. “I’m confused as an actress, because sometimes, for eight months you sit at home without work and suddenly you get flooded with offers. The industry is fluctuating. People have rediscovered me after ‘Lifeu Ishtene’. Now, I have better people approaching me for good roles,” she signs off.