A beauty with brains, is the term that strikes you as you meet Varsha Ashwathi R, the tall and svelte heroine of Amaidhi Padai 2, who started out as one among the five heroines in S P Jananathan’s Peraanmai. Her second release, Neerparavai got her noticed in the role of a police officer and now she has an impressive line up of films like Endrendrum Punnagai and Panivizhum Malarvanam in her kitty.
Though her roots lie in UP, Varsha has lived in Tuticorin since she was a kid and that explains her fluency in Tamil. So how did films happen to the daughter of a marine engineer, who has no godfathers in the industry? “I was studying for my BBM degree when I entered the Ms Chennai pageant at the insistence of my friends. Surprisingly enough, I won the titles of Ms Beautiful Smile and Ms Beautiful Face. Someone saw my photos and I got an offer to act in Peraanmai. And the rest is history! I never thought that I would become an actor one day!” she chuckles.
The actor, who was a whiz at studies and won prizes in extra -curricular activities during her years as a student, was also an NCC cadet.
The training came in handy when she did some tough action scenes in Panivizhum Malarvanam, directed by James David, recently. Varsha plays Vinay’s pair in I Ahmed’s Endrendrum Punnagai where she shares screen with Trisha, Jiiva and Andrea as well. Speaking about working with industry seniors she says, “I learnt a lot, working with actors like Nanditha Das, Satyaraj and Manivannan. Trisha was very sweet and we chatted affably during the shoot.”
Though Hindi is her mother-tongue, Varsha can understand Telugu and speaks a smattering of Malayalam, French and German too. So is she looking to work in other industries ? She says, “I’ve been getting offers in other languages but I want to make a mark in Tamil since this is where I grew up and have lived for 20 years.”
The competition is heating up these days with almost every new film being made with newcomers. So will the beauty take the glam route to success? “Glamourous roles or homely ones, both are fine. For me, the scripts, director and banner are important. Whatever I do, I want to do well,” she concludes.