It has been 5 years since Kamna Jethmalani made her Sandalwood debut with Ugadi. She is now part of the second Kannada film, Agraja.. When we ask her what took her so long, Kamna says, “Firstly, I was tied up with Telugu films and I was also not happy with the offers I was getting from Kannada. I did not wish to be a part of them just for the heck of it.” Kamna was paired opposite Ravichandran in 'Ugadi' in 2007.
“Though, I was offered a couple of films after 'Ugadi', either the storyline didn’t work out or I did not wish to work with some actors. There were times when the remuneration did not work out too. I was also shuffling between Tamil and Malayalam film industry,” she adds.
Kamna who will be in Bangalore on August 15 for the film’s launch, says that she is not new to the city, “I have grown up in Bangalore because our main business was here and I used to visit the city at least thrice a year as my grandparents lived here. At one point, I was on the verge of settling down here. But then, my parents chose Hyderabad and I had to move with them,” says Kamna, who now wants to do more movies here.
“I hope that people like me so that I can come back often to do more work here,” she adds. So, what made Kamna choose 'Agraja', a story on corruption and black money in society?
“Of course, it was because of my character, which is quite strong and also with Challenging star, Darshan and Jaggesh being in the film, it would be a pleasant change to work in a different kind of a movie,” she adds.
Though not revealing much about her role in her second film directed by Sri Nandhan, Kamna says, “I don’t consider it as a typical grey character, but it is quite selfish.
Eventually the perception will change among people as my role goes on,” explains this actress.
She opted to share screen space with four other actresses but chose to play a strong role in the film rather than a solo heroine.
“Only then, people can decide if I was good or not. Just being a pretty doll in a film doesn’t lead you anywhere,” she retorts.
The lack of offers is not the reason Kamna is now settling for a Kannada film. She says, “Simultaneously, I am doing a commercial movie in Tamil and a thriller in Telugu, which is a heroine oriented subject.” The actress who has approximately seventeen films to her credit is still not content.
“Honestly after being a heroine, we always want to experiment with good films and do more good roles to explore ourselves. I am working towards the same,” she concludes.