Actress Tamannaah Bhatia: "I Have Realized That Stardom Is Beyond You"

Actress Tamannaah Bhatia is gearing up for her next movie Khamoshi with actor Prabhudeva.

The actress born and brought up in Mumbai and debut in a Telugu film Sri, followed by her Tamil movie Kedi. She tasted success after two years with her films with Happy Days and Kalloori.

The actress said in an interview with PTI, "I grew up really fast. I was a sorted and mature individual at that age. I had a strong will to be an actor. I set out to become an actor, ended up being a heroine. I've realized stardom is beyond you, it isn't something you can control. With the kind of extremely loyal fans I have from the south, I feel lucky."

Tamannaah Bhatia shared that she learned Telugu and Tamil for her films. "I don't know if I'll be able to learn two new languages today but when I was 15, I was keen on learning Tamil and Telugu. I would refuse to take prompting on the sets and insisted I learn the language. It gives me a big reality check that our lives are very much Friday-to-Friday, everything changes with it. Some Fridays are good, some not. But the whole idea is to go to another Friday. To keep going."

The actress appeared in some hit movies like Bahubali, Aiyan, Paiya, Siruthai, 100% Love. She even grabbed the attention of the audience in the male-centric films. "I have had meaty roles even in the so-called male-centric films, where a girl is supposed to come, run around the trees and go away. Some of my memorable films are those, where I had song and dance but also a very strong part to play."

"If you have a stronger part in a commercial film, it has a wider reach. Baahubali was a war film and to get so much space in a film like that was huge. That's more important for me than doing so-called heroine-centric films," she adds. Tamannaah Bhatia also appeared in the Bollywood film industry like Himmatvala and Hamshakals and Entertainment. But unfortunately, the films did not work well at the box office.

"Theoretically, they were the hugest films for that time. But they were not good films. They didn't do well for legit reasons. Thereafter, I only tried to do films which were exciting to me. I didn't try to do a Hindi film just because I wanted to do one." The actor says now her endeavor is to challenge herself with projects and characters she has not done before, such as her latest, Hindi thriller Khamoshi", in which she plays a deaf and mute girl.

"These roles are a natural progression of who I am. Earlier, I had a certain view of cinema to what I was exposed to. Now, I am exposed to cinema from all around the world and have been an actor for these many years. I feel there's so much more to do."

Directed by Chakri Toleti, Khamoshi also features Prabhudeva and is scheduled to be released on Friday. Saurabh Mishra of PYX Film said that June 14 was the "best option for us and was a collective decision taken by the cast and our distributors".

"When Tamannaah Bhatia and Prabhudheva suggested the change we instantly agreed to it as we did not want the audience to choose between two movies with the same actors. It was a better alternative," he added. Devi 2, a horror comedy, is a sequel to the 2016 film Devi.

The actress said, "There are two things that I would really want to do in Hindi films. One would be a biopic and another would be an out-and-out dance-based film," says Tamannaah Bhatia.

Asked her who she wishes to play on celluloid, “I have always looked up to Sridevi ji as a young girl. I always thought that if there’s a biopic that I would love to be a part of, I want to play Sridevi ji on celluloid.”

Talking about the film, Tamannaah Bhatia said, “Khamoshi came at a very interesting time when I was looking for films. This is an authentic thriller. Normally in India, when people make thrillers they either add a song or try to commercialize it. I really got excited because of the constant thrill in the film."