While Tatsama Tadbhava produced by Pannaga Bharana is commonly referred to as Meghana Raj Sarja’s comeback, she disapproves it stating, “I’ve always been around. I didn’t completely stop acting and then decided to make a comeback. The year 2020, affected everyone in different ways, not just me. Life came to a standstill. Then there was motherhood to take care of.
In fact, I worked on an ad film when my son was just nine months old. I was never really gone, but people may consider it a comeback because it is silver screen.” The actor talks to us on the sidelines of the murder mystery’s release on September 15. “The script was initially just based on conversations, but it went through a few changes after discussions.”
She states that the version on the screen now is quite different from the initial narration Vishal Atreya gave her. “The visual appeal was a bit wanting in that version as it was just limited to two characters. We urged Vishal to make it more appealing visually and I gave my share of inputs to him for the script.”
Meghana, shares that shooting for Tatsama Tadbhava was a mixed bag of emotions.”I found it easy to perform the scenes set in the police station. However, the portions involving my on-screen daughter Mahati got me emotional and I had to push myself to be emotionally stable. I wanted to complete those episodes as soon as possible because they troubled me and triggered a behavioural change. But I still didn’t understand, what exactly triggered me.”
Meghana shares screen space with her good friend Prajwal Devaraj, whom she fondly calls DJ. “Prajwal is known for experimenting with genres and playing the principal character in all of them. When I approached him for a role, he knew it would be my film and his role would be an extended cameo, but he was okay with it. He loved the story, and as he performed, he fell in love with the film too. That’s when competition emerged, and we challenged each other on set. We looked friendly, but there was an unspoken competition. It was a story that brought the right people together,” she recalls.
Meghana shares that the real joy in cinema lies between the words ‘action’ and ‘cut’ and calls acting her happy space. However, she acknowledges that until now, she had to choose from what was offered and was put in a box in certain films. “When I began my career, I had a different notion about heroines. I thought they were meant to be just glamorous, and beautiful and run around trees with the hero. I thought only after gaining experience, did they get to perform in good roles, but I was wrong. I’m glad to be in a time where I can call the shots and choose who to approach. I’m open to all genres. However, I haven’t played the ultra-glamorous romantic heroine role yet, and I would love to do it someday as it’s larger than life.”
Meghana throws a surprise, saying that Tatsama Tadbhava will be taken forward, not with one but two films. “Arvind Ashwathama’s character, the cop role played by Prajwal, will all likely have a prequel, and there’s more to Arika’s story. We want to create a Tatsama Tadbhava universe, but it all depends on how we fare with Tatsama Tadbhava. It’s a tricky film, and the content will make the audience want to watch it twice.” She concludes with this optimistic note.