In a free-wheeling chat with City Express, Priyanka Upendra discusses her upcoming projects, her new-found interest in portraying strong women characters, and her apprehension on her husband’s political career
With Upendra getting back on screen, his better half Priyanka too seems to be focusing on getting back to movies. Word has it that she is currently in the process of reading scripts.
Two of her films are in the pipeline--- while 2nd Half is ready for release, Howrah Bridge, directed by H Lohith is completed with just two days of patch work. If this wasn’t enough to keep the actor more than busy, she will also get ready to shoot the sequel of Mummy possibly in June. "I was mentally prepared to produce a film. Now that Upendra has a political career as well, we’ve had to concentrate on elections also. But now that he is getting back to film work full-time, I’m also planning to sync in slowly,” she says.
Priyanka has big plans. And one of them include a film under the home-banner soon. "It all depends on what Uppi’s thinking. We will decide after I complete shooting the Mummy sequel. At that point, Uppi and I will sit and decide which project to go ahead with," she says.
At the same time, Priyanka wants Uppi to go back to being a director. "But he’s taking some time to complete the script. I have a couple of filmmakers who are coming up with good scripts. I always wanted our production house to be synonymous with good quality films. Now that Niranjan (Upendra’s nephew, who is making his debut in 2nd Half) is also following Uppi’s footsteps, we seem to have a lot of in-house talent. With so many factors in support of a film under our banner, I think it’s time to do something. I really feel that we should give a lot more to the film industry than just some occasional films. On my part, I want small and new-age films to be part of our banner. I’m also exploring television production. There is a lot of plan and a lot to do," Priyanka tells us.
As an actor, Priyanka is getting exceptional roles and she is currently enjoying to play strong female protagonist characters. "When I was young, I didn't get many offers like these. I don't know whether now, female-oriented subjects have suddenly become popular, or whether it’s my own image that is getting me these roles,” she says.
That doesn’t mean Priyanka is accepting every role under this category that comes her way. She tells us that she picks and chooses roles those that she feels she can do justice to.
“There has to be something about the the character that is suited to me. I feel lucky that I am getting scripts that excite me as an actor and at the same time have a message for the audience,” she says.
Priyanka has her hopes pinned on Mummy 2 especially since the part 1 in the series opened many doors for her. When a movie also does commercially well, she believes, “producers feel that you are viable and take a stand to invest on such films and actors.”
In the upcoming sequel, she will be associating with Lohit for the third time. A “good” filmmaker, who is “clear, creative and consistent,”was also one of the reasons Priyanka decided to take it up as her next project.“He never gives up until he gets what he wants. The film is Going to be very different from the first part,” she promises.
While Priyanka has been getting offers from films in other languages, her films are often considered to be made as a bilingual and trilingual. While Mummy - Save Me was released in Telugu and Tamil, Howrah Bridge will again be a bilingual made in Kannada and Tamil, and will be dubbed in Bangla as well at a later stage. However, the actress says that art has no language as long as there is a good story to tell. "It’s all about doing some good work and enjoying the experience if my audience is. Right now, my fans are suggesting I take up more realistic characters and thriller films, which I’m considering," she says.
Movies and politics cannot be compared
Upendra has long been dreaming of becoming a neta.And Priya is ably supporting her husband in this. "When someone is so keen about something, you can’t tell them not to be. In fact, for the longest time, he’s wanted to be in politics. It wouldn’t be right on my part to burst his bubble and tell him to wait. The work on the political front is going on I am sure he will succeed. In the meantime, we have to admit that his popularity comes from his fans and movies, so that would be of primary interest. Uppi is honest, hardworking and knows his ultimate goal. It’s well known that movies and politics are very different. Not being from a political family, everything is learning in this field. It may seem that things are taking time, but they will eventually fall into place.