Southward bound: Vedvika Soni to make Kannada debut with 'Rajkeeya'

Actor Vedvika Soni, previously seen in Ravi Teja’s Dhamaka is making her Kannada debut with a political drama, to be released in time for the Karnataka Elections 
Actor Vedvika Soni
Actor Vedvika Soni

BENGALURU:  Vedvika Soni, the fresh-faced actor known for her role in Ravi Teja’s Dhamaka, is all set to make her Kannada debut in an upcoming film Rajkeeya, which is expected to be released during the time of Karnataka General Elections. She plays the role of a young college student from a rural background who stands up against the political establishment for the betterment of her village.

“One of the directors that I’ve previously worked with in Telugu industry approached me with the role. He felt that I was more suited to the role and could convincingly pull it off,” shares Soni adding that the film, directed by AR Shaan, is currently in post-production with the first teaser set to be released in the coming weeks. 

An MBA graduate, Soni grew up in Ahmedabad and moved to Mumbai to try her luck in showbiz. When an unexpected opportunity to do films in the South presented itself, Soni happily obliged, but the language barriers were a major obstacle for her. With Dhamaka, the limited scope of her role meant that language wasn’t much of a problem. But when she graduated to a lead role with Rajkeeya, it was suddenly a huge problem. 

However, a helpful suggestion from one of her co-stars in Dhamaka, Sachin Khedek came to her rescue. “While doing Dhamaka, I learnt a lot. Everyone was very nice and supportive of me, even though they had so much experience. Sachin sir was especially nice. He felt I should be able to make basic conversations in the languages I work in.

So he told me to learn the top 100 words from languages like Telugu and Kannada and that most conversations would only rely on those words,” she adds. So how did the advice work out for Soni? “I’m getting better at Telugu. With Kannada, I can understand the language, but cannot speak well. The thing is most Bengalureans don’t use Kannada themselves, they speak to me in English!” Soni shares.

Set in a rural background, Rajkeeya delves into electoral politics. Furthermore, most of the film is set during night hours and along with the village setting, initially made Soni question her choice to do the film. “While I agreed to take up the project when we actually started shooting,

I started having second thoughts. The villagers would flock to watch the shoot and the way some of them stared at me would make me uncomfortable. But within a few days, I realised they were actually very nice,” she shares, adding that the villagers soon became like family to the crew. “They’d constantly offer us tea, and since I only drank black tea, they even learned to make it just for me!” she says. “I’m a vegetarian, and every day the villagers would cook for me. It was an enjoyable experience.”

Apart from Rajkeeya, Soni is also involved in a few projects in Telugu and one in Tamil. She has received a few offers from Kannada as well but is waiting for Rajkeeya’s release before deciding on anything.

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