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.”
“Sex scenes were necessary to the plot of Aval.”
The horror-drama film Aval saw actor Siddharth and Andrea play a married couple. The resonating cheers and gasps from the audience happened not only during jump scares but also during intimate scenes as well. Andrea says it is nothing to shy from. “Let’s face facts. The audiences know what porn consists of. They watch Hollywood movies with sex simulation scenes as well. This whole attitude of ‘Holier than thou’ is unnecessary. When you are a part of a film wherein art imitates life and you want to show a married couple completely in love with each other, how do you do that without showing intimacy? When Siddharth explained this to me, it made sense. It was important to show the intimacy in the first half so that the growing distance between them in the second would be clear. During the take on the sets there is nothing romantic about it. One is only concerned who it translates on screen and whether you look good!”
“It took 8 months to get to where I am today.”
With the success of Taramani, it was clear to all that Andrea had established herself as a bankable actress. The offers did not come immediately, however. “I am known for my impatience, I am a very hasty person. After Taramani I was starting to feel low when one of my previous directors Vettrimaran told me, ‘You wait and watch now. You think you are not getting the kind of roles you want to do but that is because they are now sitting down to the write the perfect roles for you. 8 months from now I guarantee you would have signed at least 5 movies.’ I dismissed it at that time but you know what, he was right! Over the past few months I have been flooded with offers and for really good roles. The best part of this is, in most of the projects the protagonist is a woman.”