Suman Ranganath started her career in the 1990s, and has worked in more than 60 films in different languages so far. She still looks forward to doing challenging roles and always hopes to get something that makes her feel fulfilled as an artiste. “I crave to see myself in different characters, which pushed me to take up the character of Sundari in Dandupalyam 4,” says Suman, ahead of the release of her film on November 1.
The crime thriller, directed by TK Nayak, will be out in Kannada and Telugu, followed with Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and in other languages. “Any actor who is immersed or invested in their career, or any person who likes their job very much, would feel the same. It is not about the money or fame, it is about your capabilities and urge to find out more about yourself as an artiste. After a while, it is the character that takes us to the sets the next morning, and makes us look forward to doing a scene, and that is what keeps us going,” she says.
The story about the Dandupalya crime has well known, and was also made in a three-part series by director Srinivas Raju, starring Pooja Gandhi in the lead. Ask Suman about the need for making another film on the notorious gang, and she says, “Today, if we switch on TV channels or take up a newspaper, the same news about a crime is seen and read again and again. This is because it is happening every day,” says Suman, adding, “Today, we have sequels after sequels of various films, but people still go and watch it. There is an audience for every film. Everybody should question everything. As an artiste, it was something new and I was doing it for the first time. You can make a movie that has been made before, and have another kind of message passed on,” she explains.
Suman says she is caught up on a particular image, and would like to do varied shades. “They may like me in Dandupalyam 4 or not like me. They may even question me about why I would do something like this. But as an artiste, I got a kind of fulfilment from the role I played. It is very raw, and there are no emotions involved, which is the case with all the actors who are part of a crime drama. It was a challenge, and I wanted to see how I can play that role. I have known about the Dandupalya gang. However, I haven’t watched the previous films made on this gang. How different Dandupalayam 4 turns out is for the audience to let us know,” she concludes.