The spotlight is on the young actress Sreeleela, who is getting readying to face the camera at a tender age of 16. She has been picked by director AP Arjun for his next movie KISS, which is currently being shot and in which she is paired opposite Vicky.
City Express caught hold of a few photos of her look from the movie and she looks every bit a star in her school attire. And, interestingly, those who have observed her on the sets say that she is a heroine in the making. As the director is completing the talkie portions of KISS, she gives her first ever interview and to City Express.
She says that she has always wanted to be a doctor and is still working on it. “Honestly, I don’t think I would have made it to the film industry by myself,” she says.
“But people believed that I could do well in this field encouraged me and landed me with this project, KISS. I have been training in Bharatanatyam since I was 8 and half years old and people from the industry have seen me on stage, and they said that I have an expressive face and even called me a ‘pucca heroine material’. I hadn’t thought of being anything other than a doctor, this career move has come as a big surprise even to me”.
Sreeleela, after completing her talkie portions will be heading for the song shoot, which the filmmakers have planned in San Franciso. She says that she is thankful that the team takes such an effort to make sure she is comfortable on the sets.
“I was not scared to but there was a rapport we shared on the sets that helped me give me best for every shot,” she says. “If people on the sets are saying that I have potential to be a good actor, I just feel blessed.
It is true that I am able to replicate the director’s vision, like a photocopy. I have an expressive face thanks to my training in dance, and at home I am a drama queen. I imitate a lot of people, and entertain others. I have never been too interested in watching movies but now I make it a point to watch all the Kannada films, mainly to get the right diction and slang”.
This first-year pre-university student is confident of juggling her studies and career in cinema. “It is all in the mind and I want to get ahead in my life,” she says.
“Ofcourse, few people who were close to me and my family did say that I should not get into this industry this young. But my mind was made up and I was confident that I could do acting and studying well. My mother has placed her trust in me, allowing me to pursue my interest in acting, and now I will keep her faith by doing my MBBS. It is all in your hands and the crew has been helpful too”.
She was keen that she is not cast in any run-of-the-mill story and therefore picked AP Arjun’s unconventional story. Sreeleela admits that the title had made her wary.
“When we heard it first, my mother and I said a big ‘No’. I remember my mother telling the director that ‘she is a child’ and I always felt that I won’t be able to carry it off. But all my anxieties vanished after I heard the story. KISS is not vulgar by any stretch.
There is a lip-to-lip kiss but it is relevant to the story, and there is a message that when a kiss even when planted on your cheek or forehead can forge a relationship,” says Sreeleela, adding “It has been difficult telling people that my first film is KISS, they look at me strangely. But their notions will be dispelled once they watch the film”.