A true Southern heroine, Kaniha has acted in all the four Southern language movies. Also known as Kanika and Shravanthi, Divya Venkatasubramaniam is making waves with her role of a princess in Pazhassi Raja. “It’s been amazing. People have accepted me so soon. I am very lucky to have got such a good role,” gushes Kaniha.
Debunking popular belief that marriage means the end to good movies, Kaniha has bagged movies like 'Bhagyadevatha', which fetched her the Annual Malayalam Movie Award for best actress. “After marriage when I came back to acting, a few people raised their eyebrows, but for me it’s my profession. I took a break and now I’m back to what I love,” says the engineering graduate from BITS Pilani.
How did she get to play the role of a princess? “I’ve always wanted to do Malayalam movies and I got the opportunity now. Director Hariharan auditioned 30 to 35 people before zeroing in on me for Pazhassi Raja. They screened me and they were looking for a divine face; after costume trial, I was selected. Even after the selection I didn’t know I was going to act for such a great epic movie. The character Makkam is not imaginary and I had to be very realistic,” explains Kaniha and adds, “I used very little make-up as the character is based in the 18th century. I was very nervous in my first shoot as I was working with legends like Mamooty and Sarath Kumar.”
The Tamil version of the movie is getting released on November 20.
“Nobody would have had such courage to marry in the middle of a big project but I did and informed about my marriage to director Hariharan and he was very happy about it,” says Kaniha, who feels both her personal and professional life can’t get better than this. Kaniha’s kitty is now full. She has My Big Father with Jayaram and Drona with Mamooty. However, the actress is happy ruling the roost in Malayalam movies, “I am comfortable doing Malayalam movies as it takes only 20 days.”
Well versed in music and dubbing, does this talented actress miss Chennai? “I’m a Chennaiite and I miss Chennai so much for its noise and traffic. When I was in Chennai I used to hate for its noise but now I am missing it.”