Samyuktha Hegde is a new talent roped in by Rakshit Shetty for Kirik Party, a film made under Paramvah Studios. This young gal, who is mostly referred by Rakshit as ‘kiddo’, is all of 19 years. The debutant tells City Express that its “big” that such a film happened to her, even as a beginner. “First of all I never thought I would be in tinsel town,” she says. “I always wanted to pursue dancing as a career. So when this film came by, I really did not believe that I am getting to act. Mostly because, I am very normal-looking next-door girl. I am neither into modelling nor crazy about getting photos clicked. To be frank, I was shocked when I was selected. The team made me feel welcome and helped me believe that I can pull it off,” says this newbie, who admits that she is nervous as the film inches closer to the release date. “There is so much hype around the film that I get butterflies to see myself on screen.”
Samyuktha, who was chosen through an audition, is a trained dancer and knows ten forms including Bharatanatyam, jazz and contemporary. She says training in dance helped her emote better on screen. “I told myself that dancing itself is a way of acting and that made it easier. This film did not have much scope for dancing, so that was a little difficult. I tried to overcome it by listening to music on the sets,” she says.
The actress says that she had thought little of films before. “Frankly, before Kirik Party happened, I was never a big fan of ‘Movies’ because I always thought they lack common sense, and they are stuffed with action, songs, romance and sentiments, which I could never appreciate. But after Lucia and Ulidaravu Kandante were released, I changed my opinion,” says the actor. “I am part of one such team.”
On her sharing screen space with Rashmika Mandanna, Samyuktha terms it as ‘healthy competition’.
“There is no comparison,” she says. “We have completely different personalities.”
Samyuktha has decided on films as a career, an interest she has developed over the last six months, but she will not rush her projects. “I will wait for the feedback of my first film,” she says. “Secondly, I want to work on myself. It might be asking for a lot, but the genre of films we work on makes you the person you are. Luckily I have Rakshit, Rishab, Pushkar, and Suni to guide me.”
She is pursuing her 1st year BA in Psychology and Journalism and English but, at present, films are taking most of her time. “My parents are happy that I got a good start,” she says.