With side-swept bangs and a wispy fringe, Bhama sports a mint-fresh look this new year. She has had just two releases in 2016, but the actress is beaming. “I don’t believe in numbers,” she says. After playing mom to a 14-year-old in Marupadi, a role rejected by a volley of others, she will be seen as a visually-challenged girl in Raga, her next Kannada outing. “I was taking a break from routine heroines, opting for roles that make me happy as an artist,” she says.
With misaligned eyes and a face sans pancake, calling her character de-glam will be an understatement. Bhama agrees she has gone for an extreme makeover, and even gained weight to play Anu, the lead lady of Raga. “I am not here to maintain any glam-diva image. It was my own idea to put on a few kilos. Anu has a strong child-like streak and I thought being chubby will make her more real.”
She calls Raga a period film portrayed in a true vintage tone. “Raga is an unalloyed romance, showing how love blossoms between two visually-impaired people. It’s the kind of love that has nothing to do with what we call beauty. Both the characters are attuned to darkness, but love brings a thousand blazing colours to their world,” she says.
Bhama adds she was a little hesitant to attempt the role, “It’s the first time I am playing a visually challenged character. But then P C Sekhar is the kind of director who expertly moulds you into the role.”
There was always the risk of going overboard with the gestures, but Bhama says she did her research before getting into the garb of a blind girl. “I watched a lot of films with blind characters, went to blind schools and interacted with visually-challenged people.
Then, Anu is a character who doesn’t know feminine mannerisms, she is closer to a child than a woman. She has her own style of walking and talking,” she explains.
Retaining blankness in her eyes for each and every frame was the most challenging part, she says. “If the audience can sense the difference, even for a fraction second, the whole effort is lost. Keeping the pupils in a particular angle and wading the through the fog was a strenuous affair,” she adds. Raga, starring Mitra and Bhama in the leads, is expected to hot the screens by the last week of January.