‘I had to live in slums’
Tight Schedule
If the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) is being packaged as a high adrenalin masala mix, the credit goes also to the oomph thrown in generously. 
Shriya Saran, the pan-India ambassador of CCL, is one of those who is assigned to ensure that the filmi cricket does not get boring.
Shriya admits that nothing is more thrilling than watching all her favourite stars coming together on one field. “They have been playing just as hard as they’ve been working. It’s great to watch all the madness that happens off the field. It’s no serious cricketing but we have a lot of fun. And I have been screaming and cheering them like I’ve never done,” Shriya says.
The dark-eyed, curly-haired beauty hopped into the City for a few hours to promote her film Gali Gali Chor Hai which will release in the first week of February. One of the most sought-after heroines in the country, Shriya says she can barely snatch time for herself between her very tight shoot schedules but confesses that she loves all the pressure. And yes, she doesn’t sound a wee bit tired or weary.
About the just released Malayalam film ‘Casanova’, opposite Mohanlal, Shriya says that she plays Mohanlal’s love interest. “It’s a story about one man fighting for his love. It was great working with Mohanlal. His energy is infectious and there’s never a dull moment when he’s around,” she avers.
Shriya is just as excited when she talks about her role in Gali Gali Chor Hai. “It’s a political satire. The story is knit around a small family who lives in Bhopal. An incident changes their life forever. It is about corruption and I believe that if you don’t want to be a part of the corrupt system, then you have to start making a difference and not complain about the system. This is one movie that brought us face-to-face with the problems of the common man,” Shriya observes.
She informs that a small screening was held for Anna Hazare, “I think Anna Hazare has raised his voice against corruption. Nothing will change overnight, it’s a slow process and will take its time but a beginning will have to be made,” she says. When asked if Anna Hazare was overdoing his fight against corruption? Shriya says, “I am nobody to comment about his ways to fight corruption but he has made a beginning and that’s good.”
Shriya will also be seen in Deepa Mehta’s ‘Midnight’s Children’. “It’s a dream role, one that I have been waiting for. For the film, I had to live in slums and although it was very tough at first, I made friends with most people living there,” she says.
Shriya points out that it’s every actor’s dream to work with Rajinikanth and she was lucky enough to have worked with him in Sivaji — The Boss. “He’s a wonderful human being. He’s such a quiet worker and that itself speaks volumes about the person that he is,” she wraps up.
