The Actress Within
Seeing some of her characters onscreen, one cannot help but wonder how she was as a child. Her face lights up as she tries to think. “I was a very playful child and used to take part in all the extra-curricular activities in school. I was a good student as well. Ideally, I could have gone in any direction if not for movies.” In one of her summer vacations, she decided to do theater because she thought it would be fun to do something new. She took a theater workshop and was asked to join a motley theater group where she stayed for a year to get rid of her inhibitions. “For an actor, getting rid of inhibitions is very important as it helps them to bring out their inner talents to the surface. Most of my acting training happened in the theater group in a very non-contriving way and it all happened so quickly that there was no time to sit and reflect.”
‘Chand sa roshan chehra’ happened immediately after her little tryst with theater. “The producer of the film spotted me in school which incidentally had a lot of film crowd in it and his children also studied there. I started filming for it when I was 13 but the film came out when I took my board exams at the age of 15.” She kept getting offers one after the other not just in films but also in commercials for some popular brands. As much as she was captivated with the glamour of the cine industry, she finished school and then Telugu blockbuster Happy Days happened. The rest as they say is history.
Choosing the Right Path
While most of the kids her age were either studying or had career aspirations in the fields of engineering or medicine, Tamannaah already had a full-fledged career in the acting industry and at one point was juggling 4 to 5 films at the same time. “Now that I think about it, I also had clichéd aspirations of becoming a doctor if not an actress but now when I see my brother as a doctor, I thank my stars that my career did not take that path because I saw the struggles he went through to get where he is today and my career was almost given to me on a silver plate. It was just up to me to take it.”
The upbringing she had as a child was very broad-minded and allowed her to experiment with her career choices with a firm support from the family. Though her mother was a little undecided on her career choice, she had the full support of her father who left the naval background to follow his own dream in jewellery designing. “My family is very close-knit and my brother and I are very family oriented and do not respond well to separation for long periods of time. As kids, we were pretty normal and there was no film influence on us. I am glad that we came in an era which was not so internet obsessed and life was beyond Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It was quite a fun childhood.”
A Decade in the Industry
It has been 10 years since Tamannaah first made her debut in the industry and she still feels like it is a dream. “I find it very funny but at the same time privileged that I have been here for so long. In an industry where Fridays decide your fate, it is quite an achievement to hold your ground.” Actors usually come with their own share of rumors and controversies but this petite actress has managed to stay away from all of it till now. Ask her the reason for this and pat comes the response. “I owe a lot of my grounding to my parents. One thing which was very clearly taught to us while we grew up was to just mind our own work and not get into any situations which might potentially land us in trouble. I carry that around with me even now. Once a film is wrapped and packed, I follow suit and head away so there is no space for unnecessary news.”
Bollywood Dreams
In spite of being from Mumbai, Bollywood hasn’t favored Tamannaah and her foothold has been ever so strong only in the South film industry. There is a huge notion in Mumbai that she is from the south. Her debut movie sunk without a trace and the supposedly amazing remake of the old classic Himmatwala with Ajay Devgn also crashed and burned. “People in Mumbai ask me if I am a South Indian! I think it is fine because this industry gave me my career and so much love and recognition that I am humbled. When I started doing Hindi films, it was a try and I did not have any kind of expectations and that did not go down well with me. Nobody wants to make a bad film and it so happened that my choices at that time were bad.”
Baahubali – The Magnum Opus
Baahubali clicked with the world audience for all the right reasons and smashed expectations overnight. For a movie that had its cast and crew fixed a year ago, it came quite as a surprise to Tamannaah when she was roped in too. “I got a call from Rajamouli sir for Baahubali. I had no idea of why he was calling because the cast for Baahubali had been pre-fixed and they had all finished shooting their portions, so naturally I thought that this was for a special appearance. I went to his office and he was kind enough to tell me the whole story and also about my role as a warrior princess. I was thrilled and surprised that they had not shot that part. I said yes immediately because it is a dream for any actor to work with Rajamouli sir and now after this movie, the whole world has accepted that.”
Life after Baahubali
Baahubali created record in every field of cinema within days of its release. All the actors and crew basked in its glory and Tamannaah was no alien to bouquets herself. Though overall, the film got an exceptional response, it was not far from receiving brickbats for one particular scene with Prabhas and Tamannaah . The scene features an aggressive display of ‘love’ against a gorgeous landscape with gentle music playing in the background. People criticized the scene for being disrespectful towards women and still conveying the message of rape by beautifying it.
A lot of the negative comments were directed towards Tamannaah and her decision to go ahead with the scene in spite of it sending out a wrong message. “I did receive comments on my social networking page against the scene but I think that goes for every actor and every role in every film. There is always something negative in a film that does not go down well with a certain sect of the audience. People who asked me about the scene were also interested in knowing the whereabouts of the waterfall and I had to assure them that it was computer graphics. That is the beauty of this film in the sense that it has transcended languages. For me, that scene was about the warrior princess fighting herself against falling in love. That is the quest. The disrobing is a symbolic expression of her changing her ideals and trying to fall in love. Anyone watching a movie will have his/her opinion on it and not everyone perceives it in the same way. For starters, I do not care about negative comments that come my way. If at all, the negative comments have just given the movie more publicity. People who did not watch the movie went and saw it for that one scene! You cannot derive logic out of everything and the film did what it was supposed to and that’s that.”
Tamannaah Unplugged
Foodie? Yes. Big one. I live to eat. My favorite is Biryani
Cooking: Not much of a cook but if I am hungry, I cook to keep me from starving
Fav co-stars: Karthi (because I am working with him for the third time), Arya and among girls, I get along really well with Ileana and Shruti Hassan
Love: Clichéd but I really don’t have time for it now
Marriage: Not anytime soon but definitely on the cards. I believe in the institution of marriage and kids
Favorite holiday destination: Paris
Food or shopping? Give me both at the same time and I am a happy girl