South Indian actress Trisha was in Bangalore to promote her Kannada debut Power ***. Having missed being at the audio launch of the film, she express hope for the success of the project. “The songs are already a super hit, so half the battle is won. With a well-packaged film all set for release, I have great hopes. It has been great working in a Kannada film. People here are respectful and nice,” she says.
Trisha says she was looking for a film like Power *** because she feels commercial films make the best debut vehicles in any industry. “I didn’t want to try an off-beat or heroine-centric film as my debut. People will instantly like me in a film like this,” she explains.
The actress watched the original film Dokudu only after she signed up for the remake. “I watched it only because I didn’t get a detailed narration from the director. I did not take any pointers from the original. I just wanted to know the gist of the movie,” she reveals.
On the advantages and disadvantages of revisiting old films, Trisha says, “When you remake a super hit, there is minimum risk. It also becomes a disadvantage because people expect it to be as good as the original. We have done a lot of remakes in Tamil and Telugu. Sometimes, what works in Tamil may not work in Telugu or the other way round. When that happens, people get disappointed.”
Trisha is overwhelmed by the admiration she has received from the Kannada audience.
“It is very strange that the Kannadigas that I have met during the shoots seem to know so much about my Telugu and Tamil films. They even remember the names of my films, my characters and things that even I have forgotten,” she says. “Bangalore is in tune with all kinds of cinema. And to me, it is has always been a second home. Since my school days, I have been coming here to catch films of all languages. Cinema, irrespective of its language, does the talking here,” Trisha says, hoping that the audience treats Power *** as her first movie.
About her experience of working with Puneeth, Trisha says, “Coming from a huge cinema background, he has eaten, breathed and slept films. He knows the pulse of the industry. Besides being an actor, he is a good singer, the best dancer and the sweetest person. One can break the ice with Puneeth within a day of shooting with him.”
Can we expect more of Trisha in Sandalwood? Yes, she says. “The only reason I didn’t do Kannada films in the first 12 years of my career is that it was too hard to balance films in two languages. This is a delayed debut. If there is more good work coming, I am ready to take it up,” she adds.
Being a successful actress on her own and having worked with the super stars, what is next for Trisha? “When the same question was asked to me two years ago, I said that I was done as there was nothing new. I go through this every year and every December, I think I am done. But then, something interesting comes up. I think as an actor, you need to reinvent yourself constantly. The only way to do that is to take time off and bounce back to doing good films,” says Trisha.
“I have never tried my hands at action or historic drama. I am yet to do a full-fledged heroine-centric film. I have just done 20 per cent of what there is in the industry,” she says.
Trisha is now working in a Tamil film with site Ajith and a Telugu film with Balakrishna.