Priyanka Trivedi


(Source : www.chennaionline.com)


She came from the East to conquer the South. She is young. She is pretty. Though she has acted in just a few movies, this young actress has made it big in Kollywood. Be it glamour or romance, she has proved she can do any type of roles. Born in Kolkata, she has found a way into Tamil filmdom thanks to director Manoj Kumar who introduced the budding actress in �Rajiyam�.

The actress in question is Priyanka Trivedi for whom acting has been a passion ever since her childhood days and today she is happy that her dreams have come true.

She is, at present, acting in half a dozen movies including �Jananam� directed by Suresh. Priyanka says she is grateful to Bengali director Basu Bhattacharji for having helped her enter filmdom. She recalls: "As soon as I won the Miss Kolkata title a few years ago, Basu Bhattacharji approached me to do a lead role in his film. Till then, I have had no great exposure to the film industry. I took it as a challenge and played the role under his guidance".

Impressed by her acting skills, Basu Bhattacharji let Priyanka play the lead role in his subsequent films. Simultaneously, Priyanka ventured into modelling and shifted to Mumbai, where a lot of commercials were being shot.

Later, she came down South and starred in the Telugu film �Suri� in which she acted opposite Chakravarthy. The film was also made in Hindi as �Durga�. Closely watching her performance in the film, noted actor-director of Kannada film industry Upendra assigned her a role in his 'H2O'. The film was shot a couple of years ago but its release got delayed as it was mired in controversies and a few technical problems. It was then that she played a role in Manoj Kumar�s �Rajiyam� with Vijaykant in the lead role. Priyanka says, "Though I was a given an idea about a lot of scenes, many were edited much to my disappointment. However, I was fortunate to win recognition among the masses".

Watching few of her still-photographs, actor Ajit requested director Ezhil to assign her a role in the latter�s film �Raja�. Priyanka played the role of a Brahmin girl to perfection in the movie. She won the admiration and accolades of movie buffs for her performance and from then on, she became an actress that everyone eagerly waited for on the big screen.

Priyanka says, "I want to do my roles to the utmost satisfaction of my director". Be it glamour, humour or romance, perfection should be the watchword, she opines.

She has been acting in almost all the south Indian languages. She hopes that in the coming years, she would try to concentrate more on Tamil films, at least act in a handful of Tamil movies every year.

Priyanka says she is impressed with the working style in Tamil filmdom and is amazed by the dedication of the entire team in making a movie in Kollywood.

Her role models are actresses Suchitra Sen, Tabu, Shabana Azmi and Sridevi.

The basic ingredients that go into making an actress successful, according to Priyanka, are intelligence, patience, expressive eyes and excellent communications skills.

Her ultimate dream is to act in the movies of Maniratnam and K Balachandar. "With the blessings of God the Almighty and co-operation of friends and parents, I hope I will strike it big in the movie industry," she says.

Published on January 21, 2003

Sandalwood calling

www.deccanherald.com

Deccan Herald, Sunday, September 21, 2003

SRIKANTH SRINIVASA chats up Kolkata girl Priyanka Trivedi, who is working in some of the big projects in Kannada film industry

Kannada film industry has of late been seeing a steady influx of Bengali belles. However, this girl is no newcomer to the Kannada film industry. She has had two releases in Kannada � the controversial H2O and the hit Kotigobba. Her mother is a Bengali and her father hails from UP.

Priyanka Trivedi, the Kolkata-born lissome lass and Miss Calcutta 1996 has been signed up for at least three Kannada films. Priyanka is currently working in Rowdy Aliya opposite Shivarajkumar and Panduranga Vittala opposite Ravichandran. She has completed Malla with Ravichandran, which is ready for release. Deccan Herald caught up with Priyanka Trivedi for a tete-a-tete with the actress on the sets of Rowdy Aliya. Excerpts:

What is your educational background?

I am lucky to have spent 10 years of my schooling life in the US and about three years in Singapore. I finished my BCom from Kolkata.

How did you get into films?

I had done a couple of television commercials for brands such as Britannia, Orient Fans and Pillsbury. I didn�t want to get stuck with just television ads. I met director Basu Chatterjee during my holidays who was then planning to make his first Bengali film. He knew that I was modeling. I was cast by him to play the female lead in Hotath Brishti (sudden rain), which was a remake of Tamil hit Kadhal Kotai. I followed this up with two more films in my mother tongue � Chhupi Chhupi and Tok Jhal Mishti (on the lines of Shaukeen).

When did you catch the attention of South Indian film-makers?

I shifted to Mumbai and did Harry Baweja�s film Jawab Se Bachao opposite Arshad Warsi, Suman Ranganath and Mukul Dev which had an average run. Perhaps, my Hindi film caught the attention of South Indian directors. I got a number of offers down here such as Durga in Telugu and Hindi, Raa in Telugu (opposite Upendra), the controversial film H2O and Kotigobba (opposite Vishnuvardhan) in Kannada, Rajyam (opposite Dilip and Vijaykanth), Raja (opposite Ajith), Kadhal Sadugodu (opposite Vikram) and Jananam in Tamil.

Which are the films that you are currently doing? Why did you refuse to talk about H2O?

I am doing a Bengali film Saathi which is a remake of Thulladamanamum Thullam in which I play the role of a blind girl, Rowdy Aliya and Panduranga Vittala in Kannada. I just don�t want to talk about H2O because the film is over and it was in the making for a long time.

Why didn�t you choose to continue in Bollywood? How do you manage to accept assignments in different languages?

I am enjoying myself acting in the South Indian films and Bengali films. I have been lucky to get offers to act opposite big stars here in the South. I don�t want to go back to Mumbai and start from scratch because I will need a good launch. Moreover, there is a lot of competition out there. It�s switch on and switch off for me when it comes to acting in so many languages. I have picked up a few lines in all these languages. I am still learning and am quite critical about myself, my looks and how I act.

How do you describe yourself?

I am a little introverted, pretty flexible as a person, a good listener and overtly sensitive.