Malayalam actress Rajisha Vijayan awaits the theatrical release of Telugu debut movie ‘Ramarao On Duty’ on July 29. In this interview, the actress talks about acting alongside Ravi Teja, making a Telugu debut, what makes star heroes like Mass Maharaja, Suriya and Karthi special, and more. Here is the transcript of the interview with Rajisha Vijayan.
How did you get the opportunity to work in Ramarao On Duty?
I got a call from director Sarath Mandava after he saw me in the Tamil movie ‘Karnan’. He told me the hero is Ravi Teja. My character’s name is Malini. The narration really worked for me. When I am debuting as an actor in a new language, there has to be substance to it and scope for performance. I saw both in Malini and ‘Ramarao On Duty’. More than the screen time, what matters is her importance to the story. She is a beautiful and strong woman.
How was Rajisha Vijayan working experience with Ravi Teja?
I have grown up in North India. I used to watch Ravi Teja’s Hindi dubbed films. All my friends knew Ravi Teja. These days we are talking about PAN India, but Ravi Teja had PAN Indian reach from earlier days. It was really great working with them. He is a superstar and a great mass hero. It feels like lightning when he comes to the sets. The entire set will be filled with energy. He treats everyone equally.
I had to shoot for a sad and depressing day on the first day of ‘Ramarao On Duty’ shoot. Suddenly, when Ravi Teja came on set, I found him quite sweet, humble and genuine. He treats equally everyone. He is a fun person to be with. I have one song in the movie out of four. I have scenes with Divyansha Kaushik as well.
What differences did you observe between the Telugu film industry and the Tamil and Malayalam film industries?
I have been associated with three film industries so far. In Tollywood, we have bigger budgets and schedules are more in number. At the end of the day, technically, we are all making cinema. Your acting differs from genre to genre. Your acting meter will be the same in all languages for the same genre. We are all breaking the language barriers in the subtitles era. Bollywood is wondering how South cinema is booming. It’s because the OTT culture has given a fillip to the pan-India trend.
In Malayalam movies, script is the most important thing. Unless we lock a bound script, we don’t start shooting. Writers have that much importance in Mollywood.
Do you think OTT will have an effect on theatres?
The theatre viewing experience is ultimate and it will be completely different. Mammootty sir would not look at the monitor after doing a shot. He says cinema is meant for a big screen experience. Films like Ramarao On Duty have to be watched in theatres only. When I am acting in a movie, I am thinking in terms of how it looks on the big screen. Every technician makes a film for the big screen. It’s very important that the theatrical experience is kept alive. Now that the pandemic is getting over, we are in a comfortable space. And I hope ‘Ramarao On Duty’ is watched by the audience in theatres.
Tell us about your future projects?
‘Sardar’ in Tamil opposite Karthi is gearing up for a release (in October). ‘Malayankunju’ (starring Fahadh Faasil) in Malayalam was released today. I have shot four other movies in Malayalam and they are going to be released soon.