She took a brief hiatus from Kollywood post Sidhu +2 and Naan Rajavagipogiren. Now, Chandini is back with three films in Tamil. So, what kept her away and what lured her back? CE finds out in a chat with her.
“I was busy completing my graduation in Visual Communication from Ethiraj College,” says Chandini. “So I decided to take a break from films. I was just 16 years old when I got the offer for Sidhu +2. I got many offers after that, but education was a priority. So, I gave up all of them. Now that my studies are complete, I’m back to take my film career seriously,” she says.
Chandini is also a known face in Tollywood and is currently doing three films there, one of them with Mahesh Babu’s nephew Naveen Krishna. However, Kollywood also has opened its arms to this beauty who is a Chennaiite and speaks fluent Tamil. This is one of the reasons she landed a role in Susindran’s production Vil Ambu, directed by Ramesh. “They wanted someone who could speak good Tamil to play the bold and boisterous slum girl in the movie. After hearing the story, I just fell in love with the character. So I prepared myself for the audition by doing some homework. I learnt some of the dialogues and worked on my body language and voice. They liked it and I was signed up for it,” she says with a smile.
Playing a slum dweller wasn’t easy, she says. “We shot mostly in a slum in Coimbatore. It was a completely new world, and it took a lot of time to get tuned to it while shooting. But I like going out of my comfort zone as an actor,” she adds. Chandini shares the screen with Harish Kalyan, Srushti Dange, Sree and Samskruthi in the movie which is gearing up for a summer release.
She’s excited about working with a lady director for the first time in Anjana’s PallanduVazhaga. Rahul Ravindran is the hero and Chandini plays an IT professional. In Porguthirai, directed by Ram Gopal Verma’s former assistant Pravin, Chandini plays a Madurai girl. “I’ll be seen only in half-saris. The character is very calm like me in real life. I have to speak more with expressions than dialogues,” she signs off.