All set to woo the audience with her upcoming film Peddha Kapu-1, the leading lady Pragati Shrivastav gets candid with The Pioneer about her role, some BTS of shoot, and more.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
The intense and gripping trailer of director Srikanth Addala’s rural new-age political actioner Peddha Kapu-1 is all set to raise the bar on high. We have the heroine of this another sensible movie on board with us—that’s right, Pragati Srivastava—and she’s managing the switch quite well.
Maintaining the same intensity with us in the interview as well, the leading lady advances, “This role came very instinctively to me. Most of the time, what happens is that the filmmakers already have an already received idea of how a heroine should be in Telugu. Srikanth is not your cliche filmmaker, and that’s what made me sign this movie. It was really a very good chance for me to step into new shoes and even break off from that hackneyed idea of an actress.”
When the pre-look of the movie came out, it showed a hand with blood marks and dust on it. The outline of the story is not known yet, but it is a social drama for sure! And the actress, who will also be the new leading lady opposite Anand Deverakonda, continues, “We were shooting at a village background. I have never tapped into a role of a village belle! I was happily roving in a half-saree. Its okay to not do glamorous roles always, as an actress. I have watched all of my director’s movies and I was keeping a track of it.”
She further elaborates, “I was so happy to give look tests for him. I am a crucial part of the film; what else would I need? What happens in a massy film when the role of an actress is overlooked? It’s different when you are doing a film with Srikanth Addala. This is supposed to be my re introduction in the telugu film industry and I am not ready to get obscured by any other actress.”
This rustic village drama had a lot of action sequences too. Pragati spills the beans, “Where the leading actor was doing his hostilities, I was finding it so difficult to show anger on screen. I was in the body language of a typical telugu ammai. I just can’t express my anger! I struggle, literally. The trickiest moments on the sets. I was oblivious about my role—we did a lot of field work. I was trying to observe how Telugu girls carry their half sarees and the Andhra slang. The language was challenging enough! I in fact went to a vegetable mandi too just to see the variety of telugu women there. I got my body language for this movie from there, as hilarious as it may sound.”
She’s been looking for scripts that add value to her filmography; perhaps Peddha Kappu-1 is one of them. On the contrary, “Comfort on-screen has improved a lot from my first film. I take marketing of my films very seriously now, I need my films to be backed by big banners. I am very practical, this way! Press meets to date feels dreamy to me. My co-actor taught me how to just not eat food but fall in love with it. Virat enjoys having food, he eats with dedication. I know it’s funny but it’s true. He used bring all the local cuisine at one palate. He made me discover my taste buds! On a final note, I would love to work with Prabhas next. Fingers crossed.”
