Meenakshi (Pic: ENS) 
Entertainment

'I felt like I was in an alien land'

Meenakshi, the Kolkotta-born actress talks about her adventures in Tamil cinema and controversies on excessive glamour

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She made her debut in ‘Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar’ and received rave reviews for it. But after her debut, three of her films — ‘TN 07 AL 4777’ , ‘Perumal’ and ‘Rajadhi Raja’ didn’t fare well at the box office. Now, actress Meenakshi is hoping for the best in her two forthcoming releases — ‘Agam Puram’ and ‘Mandira Punnagai’ .

Asked whether there was any truth to the rumours that her clothes were too revealing in 'Agam Puram', she says, “Not at all. My role is a modern girl in the film and I wear jeans, t-shirts and skirts. These are normal clothes. I don’t do skin shows. I’ve designed my own costumes in the film. I’ve used special costumes from Mumbai. I was particular that the clothes are comfortable and not vulgar,” says the actress, who was a model before stepping into the film industry.

“My character in ‘Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar’ was very homely. Even today, I’m known by the film and not by my other releases.

“When people watched ‘Rajadhi Raja’, they said I was too glamorous in the film but I didn’t find anything glamorous,” laughs the actress.

So how is she in real life?

“I’m neither homely nor ultra modern. I’m somewhere in between. I don’t like wearing short skirts. I’m comfortable in pants and shirts,” adds the actress.

Talking about her upcoming flick, the actress says, “‘Mandhira Punnagai’ will be the best film in my career. My character is performance-oriented. I felt very comfortable working with the director-actor Karu Pazhaniappan . He’s a very sensible director. And, I felt the same comfort level while working with Shaam . I developed a good rapport with the entire ‘Agam Puram’ team.”

Talking about her big break, she says, “I came for the ‘Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar’ audition and I was selected. At that time, I didn’t have any Tamil friends and I felt like I was in an alien land as I couldn’t understand the language,” says Meenakshi, the Kolkotta-born actress who was also a theatre artiste.

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