Andrea has it all. A string of hits, a kitty of good scripts, the looks, the fitness regime to complement it, adventurous travel escapades, a closet of shoes, the ability to call all the shots and a don’t-care attitude for haters. In an exclusive interview with JFW, the actress shares how she made it to the sweet spot of cinema and the bright future ahead.
“I had to train with the army for my role in Vishwaroopam”
Andrea is not new to method acting. Putting herself into roles, she takes on vigorous research implementations to land the part correctly. Talking about her role in Vishwaroopam, she shares, “For part 1 I had a whole Kathak dance sequence, I didn’t know I could do it but I did. It is nice to discover new things about yourself! Also for the movie I had to do some training at the Officers Training Academy. Now, I have done some cross training, having gone to the gym but I have not done anything else. In fact when people ask me what I can play, I tell them I play the piano! It was therefore an eye opener when I had to go to the OTA and train along with the cadets to get a sense of how defence training actually happens. As public we work for passion, monetary benefits and general occupancy but the army works only to protect the civilians of a country; that’s something else! The rigorous training and regime they go through, sometimes to the point where people lose their lives in training all for the noble intention of safeguarding the nation – is something that hits you hard. It humbles you.”
“I have a history of working with perfectionists!”
Kamal’s Kubrick-esque style of working when it comes to cinema is no secret. A perfectionist himself, the stretch of 2-5 years for one film is regularity when it comes to his work. So did Andrea find it draining to work that way? She laughs it off, “Lot of my other films were also challenging. I have worked with Raam, Vettrimaran, and Selvaraghavan – they are all perfectionists. They all want what they have in mind so I have a history of working with people like that. What would irk me is probably complacency, a mediocrity; I find that difficult to deal with it. I am more than happy to do several takes to create the perfect product for screen.”
