Actress Samyuktha who is all set to woo the audience with her upcoming flick SIR, interacted with the Hyderabadi media, sharing some interesting insights about the film, and working with superstar Dhanush.
Amartya Smaran
Bheemla Nayak fame actress Samyuktha will next be seen in the upcoming film SIR starring alongside Dhanush, playing a biology teacher. Written and directed by Venky Atluri, the picture is a social commentary on the Indian education system.Although Samyuktha started her career with Malayalam films, she’d seen monumental success post the release of Bheemla Nayak.
On August 21, when Samyuktha was here in Hyderabad to sign Bheemla Nayak, the charming actress coincidentally happened to meet Venky Atluri, who had then narrated the story of SIR to her. “I liked the story and then, the day after the narration, we did a look test and that’s how SIR happened. Honestly, after listening to the story, I really thought I should do it because I loved the story,” informed the actress.
The Kaduva actress calls acting a divine spiritual process.That’s quite a statement, isn’t it? In her interaction with the media, she shared that she never thought she’d be acting full-time. “It all started as a vacation. I come from a small village in Kerala. I initially thought it’d be nice to tell everybody that I’m acting in a film. Call it destiny or whatever, I’m here today and my stint in Tollywood has been the best,” she said.
When The Pioneer asked her what exactly about the craft of acting she thinks is so divine, she elaborated, “To act, we have to be true at the moment. When you’re acting in a scene with someone, you can’t be thinking about, “What’s for lunch!” or “What’s in my Amazon Shopping Cart”. I only have to be thinking about what is happening at the moment.
In the process of becoming the character, we forget ourselves. It’s not very easy to achieve that state. I would say I have been there only a few times. It’s not that I achieve that state all the time but there are times when you feel that you’re completely in the moment and you’re forgetting yourself. I find that thought process intriguing. Imagine, that’s what meditation is trying to achieve. It’s very similar and I find it very relatable in that way.”
The SIR actress admitted to having experienced such divine moments during the film’s climax sequence. Let’s hear it out from the talented actress, “I did have multiple moments. Especially in the climax of the film. There are two sequences where I felt like I was just there and it was all happening. I didn’t have to think about how I was going to perform. There’s also a time when you get used to working with all your co-artists. And because of that, I experienced that moment in the last portion of the movie.”
Being a good listener makes one a great actor. We’re not saying this, all the great directors and thespians have said this time and again. The late legendary director, actor, and comedian Jerry Lewis would hold sign boards that said, “Just Listen” while he was off the camera with a co-actor. The whole point was he wanted his co-stars to pay attention to what the other characters were saying in the scene. Listening to someone seems pretty easy but it’s one of the hardest things to do and that’s why we all keep saying, “Why doesn’t anyone lend me an ear!”
Anyways, Samyuktha shares the same views as well and she strongly believes that listening to other actors plays a crucial part in emoting well. The Bimbisara star explained, “One must be a good listener. We should completely listen to what the director is saying.
Then, we have to listen to what the other performers are saying in a scene. When we carefully listen to someone who’s talking, that’s where the right facial expressions come in. You don’t have to make an extra effort to express yourself when you intently listen to other performers.”
There’s no surprise in saying that Dhanush is one of the greatest working actors in India at the moment. Not just that, he’s also a big star in Tamil Nadu. Was it nerve-wracking for Samyuktha to act opposite Dhanush? “I was really feeling stressed one day and I remember having a conversation with Dhanush Sir.
He said, “there are millions of people who’re dreaming to reach where we are. When we enjoy the process, our output is going to be multifold better”. Then I felt, “What he’s saying is true!”. I never think like, “I’m a good actor. So, let me go compete with him.” I only do what’s needed for the character and the scene.”
Director Venky Atluri is famous for writing full-fledged characters for women. The women in his films are written beautifully and the actress had some really nice things to say about him. “Being the writer and the director of the film, Venky Garu took the right emotions from me. In that way, it was very easy to work with him.
He’s very clear about what he wants and he’ll just take it out from us. Also, he’s mostly chilled out on the sets. In all of Venky Sir’s films, the female character also travels throughout the film. I’m just not limited to the romance part when the film enters the major crux of the story. My journey is with the other lead character.”
The actress will next be seen in actor Sai Dharam Tej’s Virupaksha. “That role is very special to me,” exclaimed the actress and hinting at the nature of her character in Virupaksha, she ended, “Doing emotional scenes will certainly take a toll on me. It takes one or two days for me to come out of it. Especially while shooting for Virupaksha it was very hard.”
