After enjoying stupendous success with Nadodigal , she is now onto her next, Madhil Mel Poonai . Hailing from Banting, Selangor, Shanthini now feels this was her calling. “After Nadodigal , I started getting only vamp roles and characters with negative shades. I wanted an image makeover. I had to wait for nearly a year or more and finally this script came my way. I share the screen space with Vijay Vasanth and Vibha. It is a triangle of sorts and the title suits the situation.” Working with Vijay Vasanth is certainly not new to her. “We shared the screen space in Nadodigal and we are doing it yet again. His wife is a very good friend of mine. She is very simple,” she says. “ Nadogigal was a great experience to be a part of. Sasikumar, the actor in the film helped me a lot.” After having played an award-winning role in a tele-soap, Arasi as a private investigator, director Samutharakani had spotted her for Nadodigal , which sweeped the recent Vijay TV awards.
But silver screen is not something new to Shanthini. “Back in Malaysia I have worked in three films and I won the Best Actress Award for my performance in the film titled Vikrant . Before that I had worked in Mayaprabhu and Divya I love You . The latter was a film by none other than Malaysia Vasudevan. We happen to be relatives as well. His daughter happens to be my sister-in-law. I have also done TV shows in Malaysia. The working environment here is very different to that of Malaysia. There is a system there for sure, but it is more professional and happening here,” she says. The actress however has plans to take up offers there as well. “I am not saying no to a good offer at all. And out here, I want to focus more on Kollywood, establish myself and then think in terms of Tollywood or Mollywood,” she adds.
Shanthini is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer as well. “I have undergone formal training in dance. And I have also been doing modelling, but for saree advertisements (laughs). I have even worked for Singapore Airlines for a while as cabin crew,” she informs. Shanthini has two more offers in hand. “They are yet to be confirmed. One is with actor Nanda and the other with Ramakrishnan. However, we are going on floors with this film first,” she adds.
