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Raashii Khanna: The fan base in south, you will find nowhere else, you feel you are answerable to them
Actor Raashii Khanna, who will be seen next in the Malayalam remake of Andhadhun, talks about why her focus isn’ only on working with big stars.
Vijay Deverakonda, Vijay Sethupati, and now Prithviraj in the Malaylam remake of Andhadhun- Raashii Khanna has worked with the biggest of actors in south. Yet when you ask her if her priority in a film is the stature of her co-star, she denies.
“I have never gone with bigger stars, or said ‘oh there’s a big star, let me sign it’. There were places in my career in the beginning when I was getting some characters with big people. I didn’t feel like I wanted to. People would tell me to do just do it for the pairing, I would say no. If I don’t feel like, I won’t do it,” she makes it clear.
Having done all kinds of commercial films, she continues, she now has got the “right balance” between content and commerce. “You should have a good part too, there has to be something concrete. I now have a name for myself in south, people have expectations. The moment I sign something crappy, people will feel hurt. Honestly, here fans take everything very personally, it’s very different from the north. The fan base in south, you will find nowhere else. You feel like you are answerable to them, you can’t pick up anything random,” says Khanna, who had started her film career with the Hindi film Madras Café.
What’s more surprising is that she’s a Delhi girl, who had no exposure to Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam films, in which she actually works prominently now. Ask her how did she manage it, and the actor reveals, “When I entered Telugu film, I was serious about one thing that I want to learn the language. Unless I learn it, I would not be able to convince the audience. I am very hard on myself, and self motivated. Only when you know the language and culture, can you connect with them. So today, when you ask, people in Hyderabad will tell you ‘I am a Tleugu girl’, they have taken me home with them. That only happens when you put in that extra effort. Today, apart from singing, talking in Telugu, I feel like a Telugu girl. Malayalam is extremely difficult.”
