HYDERABAD: Dua Kaushik says she is a little bored, but a film and music buff rarely stays that way. “I also love being creative so I managed to get over it by doing more posts and videos,” says this Class IV student of Billa Bong High School in Saket, Hyderabad. This ten-year-old shot to fame with two of her recent roles in Superstar Mahesh Babu’s blockbuster Sarileru Neekevvaru (where she plays the daughter of actor Hari Teja and in Rakshasudu, starring Bellamkonda Srinivas and Anupama Parameshwaran) is a social media star. She had garnered seven lakh followers on Tiktok in less than four months.
She switched to Instagram in December 2019 and has 1.4 lakh on Instagram. She excels in mouthing dialogues of actors Allu Arjun and Brahmanandam. Dua says she spends at least three hours every weekend with her mom Swapna Kaushik’s iPhone in their Sainkupuri home to shoot her videos which have millions of views every week. “My mom is my director. I do what I am told to do,” she says, dismissing her own contribution to her videos.
“From choosing what video to dance to or emote to, the expressions I need to give to the outfit, mom is the captain,” says Dua. She is known for being a super cute child and her comments section is filled with praise for her cute expressions. Her effervescence comes through even in a phone call. When you hear her talk, it feels like she is emoting at the other end. For the filmi dialogues, this Dubai-educated kid takes Telugu diction classes from her mom, an HR personnel previously.
Does she think she is famous enough now? Does she get asked for selfies? “Kids recognise me well. So I did get recognised at the ice cream parlour near my house and of course, I obliged them with a selfie,” she says. Dua, who loves dancing, drawing and painting, has learned Bharatanatyam in Dubai but after she moved to Hyderabad in February 2019, she could not go back to her dance classes. And this year, because of Covid-19 she could not take up classes. Sometimes, she has fun when her little brother Dev Kaushik joins her online. Her favourite artistes on YouTube are BunnyVox and Mahaboob.
Her mom Swapna says that movies are definitely on her agenda as they take only a few days of the year and give her an impactful reach. “Although Dua has been getting offers from web series and TV shows, she needs to focus on her academics,” she says. Dua’s expressions and dance moves caught the attention of director Anil Ravipudi who got in touch with her through her Instagram page and offered her a role. “In Rakshasudu, she plays a full-fledged role of Kavya and this time too, director Ramesh Varma came across her work on social media. Similarly, director Anil Ravipudu of Sarileru Neekevvaru was impressed with her histrionics in a viral video.
“I did a Tiktok video with Anupama Parameshwaran and it was so much fun to shoot with her on the sets after that video And of course, Rashmika Mandanna and became besties after we shot for Sarileru...”
Dua also gets a lot of endorsement offers, but she says she is being selective. “As a kid, I may do an Insta collab, but right now I am not doing anything that involves monetary transactions. Maybe a post or video for a kids boutique or a water bottle is okay, but we havent done too many endorsements,” she says.
A toy or a game review, however, they think is something Dua would love to do at this age, especially for YouTube. However, her heart lies in causes and she did a ramp walk as a celeb kid for an NGO before the Covid-19. A book lover and an art and craft fan, Dua says her life is boring as all that she does is attend classes online, shoot for her videos. So this week, she is all set to re-read her favourite books – The wishing chair, Malory Towers and Hannah Montana.”
— Manju Latha Kalanidhi kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com @mkalanidhi