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Priyamani: Took a break from Hindi as I’d only get similar songs after 1234 in Chennai Express
Actor Priyamani says she consciously didn’t want to create an image of only doing special songs in films.
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Priyamani’s special dance song, One Two Three Four, in Chennai Express (2013) had become a rage, but audiences didn’t see her going all out in taking up Hindi projects post that film. In fact, web series The Family Man is what followed next, years later.
The actor says she was never away from Hindi cinema to begin with. “I’ve have grown up watching those films and people like Aamir (Khan), Shah Rukh (Khan), Salman (Khan). You name the actor, I have seen all of their films. I was born and brought up in Bangalore, and used to watch both English and Hindi films. I literally just took my time to proudly enter this [Hindi] cinema,” says the 37-year-old.
Adding that the problem lay in the kind of image that was being formed of her following Chennai Express, Priyamani tells us, “If you enter Hindi cinema, you are there. It has a wider, pan-India audience, the NRI audience also watches a lot of Hindi films. I am glad I started my journey with Raavan in 2010, then Rakht Charitra, followed by Chennai Express. After that I wanted to take a break as I would keep getting a lot of offers for doing similar numbers. I didn’t want to be like that. Then came The Family Man ,and rest is history.”
Her next is Maidaan along side actor Ajay Devgn, which has been pushed till now to ensure a theatrical release. And with people back in cinemas, does she think that the craze for web content will go down?
“No, I don’t think so. It will have it’s full fan following even after this. This craze for OTTs will never die down,” she signs off.
