Nikeesha Patel, who has played the lead in several Telugu and Kannada films, will soon be seen in the Tamil film Karaioram. The thriller, directed by Jagadish Kumar, better known as ‘JKS’ in the industry circuit, features a big star cast including Iniya, Simran, Ganesh and Vashishta.
“It is a film that will be thrilling right from the beginning. It is my very first trilingual. The film will be released in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada,” says Nikeesha, who has also been a part of several BBC TV shows like Casualty, Tracy Beaker and Doctor Who? “There are two things you will find in the film – a strong script and beautiful cinematography. In fact, this is one of the strongest scripts in my entire career. As for the pictures, we shot 80 per cent of the film at a beautiful beach house in Udupi.”
The film, which has been titled Alone in Kannada and Leela in Telugu, is a female-oriented script in which eight characters play important roles. Sources in the industry say that the film’s plot revolves around a girl, who in a bid to forget her past, chooses to spend time alone at a beach house. She settles down but then something happens and she is unable to get out. Simran plays a cop looking to rescue the girl.
Ask Nikeesha about the experience of working with someone like Simran and she immediately says, “Simran is such a down-to-earth person and I learnt a lot from her. For instance, whenever she did a scene, she’d be very still but yet, she would be very expressive. I was paying attention to all of that.”
Nikeesha, who made her debut in Telugu opposite Pawan Kalyan in Puli, has done a couple of Tamil films including Yennamo Yedho (2014), which featured Gautham Karthik in the lead. Now, after Karaioram, which is scheduled to hit screens on November 27, she has another Tamil film opposite Nakul titled Naradan.
So, why would an Indian girl, born and raised in the UK, choose to work in the film industry when she could work there? “I have worked as the lead actor in a few
shows there. But Bollywood was always a part of our lives. I would always come home and see Hindi films playing there. Also, working in the British film industry was not my dream. Working in the Indian film industry was, as actors here have a time span, which is not really the case over there.”
Nikeesha has no qualms doing glamourous roles. “If the roles are meaningful, I don’t mind doing them. In fact, I want to do a film in which I get an opportunity to flaunt my hot body,” she chuckles. Get her to name her favourite actors and she replies, “I like Dhanush for the way he can portray a character and Anushka Shetty,” she smiles.