BHUBANESWAR: It Could be premature to predict if budding actor Priya Choudhury who made her debut in the recent release Dream Girl would be the face of Ollywood in the coming days, but certainly the 20-something damsel has raised hopes. Priya, who is pursuing her graduation and has set her eyes on media as a career, had the fortune of being cast in the lead role in the film under Prasad Production banner, which is known for its professionalism. ‘‘We were looking for a young actress for the character of a naughty girl for this romantic movie and we found Priya the most suitable for it. She is a natural and acting comes to her spontaneously. She is the future,’’ observed Ashok Pati who directed her in Dream Girl.
But for this gifted artiste, for whom the transition from an anchor to an actress was natural, acting was never a choice for career. ‘‘I always wished to be an anchor and a newsreader for television,’’ revealed Priya who had her first brush with the small screen as the anchor of the musical serial Sangeet Suravi on Doordarshan during her school days. Offers from ETV-Oriya and OTV followed and she left a lasting impression on her viewers with articulate anchoring of popular programes like the phone-in and Mitatiea-Gitatiea. But when Ashok Pati decided to cast her in his film Nandini I love You, Priya declined. ‘‘It was the character of a young married woman and I did not feel that I would fit in. But I could not skip Dream Girl as the reel character matched my real character,’’ remarked she.
Do god-fathers play a role in shaping the career of an emerging actor in the film industry?
‘‘I believe talent and hard work really matter. How long can godfathers take you ahead unless you have the merit?,’’ she questions.
Even after a successful debut film, Priya is firm and decisive about her choice of a career. ‘‘I would love to act as a hobby as I took to anchoring,’’ she confides. And does she feel that films can be a comfortable career for actors of her generation? ‘‘There is a lot of uncertainty associated with this profession but since the entertainment industry in Orissa has been growing up fast, one can click with confidence and hard work,’’ feels the actor who is fond of watching movies. ‘‘Oh! I watched Titanic at least 20 times though films like Hum Apke Hain kaun and Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam are my favourites,’’ she added.
An Odissi dancer, Hindustani singer and painter, it doesn’t take much for Priya to come under the skin of the character she plays. ‘‘I am not so experienced to speak on it. But if people appreciated my role in Dream Girl, I must say that it came to me naturally and I never felt like acting. I just took the script into my heart and the rest was what you watched on screen,” pointed out Priya. ‘‘Yet, I strongly feel that training in acting should be a must for those who wish to take it as a profession,’’ she signed off.
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