'Success matters a lot in Kannada films'
Experience speaks
An award-winning film like Avva should have been her ticket to the big league of Sandalwood. But things didn’t go the way actress Niveditha had planned. While offers poured in, they were not the kind she really wanted.
That’s why she took the numerology route and changed her name from Smita to Niveditha. “I know I fell into the trap of numerology but at that time, I felt there was no harm in trying it out. Luckily, I got a break in the Tamil film industry and they all knew me as Niveditha. But in the Kannada industry, people got confused,” she laughs.
Currently, the actress is back in the City and is working in a number of Kannada films namely Nimbe Huli, Khiladi Kitty and Gowri Puthra. Ask her if this is her comeback into the Kannada industry and she quips, “I never left. I was continuously working in many movies like ‘Gandhi Smiles’ and Dheena but they are yet to release. So people thought I have stopped working in Kannada movies.”
Her experience of working in Mukta Arts’ Nimbe Huli was not a very positive one. The actress says that what she was promised and what transpired were two different things. “I took up this role on the insistence of the director (Hemanth Hegde) and felt that a Subhash Ghai production will be a good experience. I was promised a whole new look but my look was nothing different and even the costumes were not of good quality. Hemanth is a good director and I don’t want to hurt him but there has to be some value given to such a big production house. I hope the film will turn out to be better on-screen,” says Niveditha, who plays the role of a village belle in the movie. Having worked in three Tamil films, Niveditha realised that the Tamil industry is far more tolerant to talent than its Kannada counterpart.
“In Tamil films, if one movie doesn’t click, it doesn’t matter. If you are talented, they will give you more opportunities to perform. But in Kannada films, success matters a lot,” she sums up.
