'I want to do more challenging roles'

She describes her entry into the film industry as an accidental one, but now, Haardika Shetty is so passionate about her career that she wants to leave her mark with some memorable roles.

She started her career with a big bang in Galaate and will soon be seen in ‘Bangalore Metro’.

In Galaate, the actress played a very glamourous and bubbly role. But in ‘Bangalore Metro’, she says, the audience will get to see her as a very homely, traditional and soft-spoken character. These are two extremes, but it is the role in ‘Bangalore Metro’ that the actress can relate to strongly.

“In real life, I have always been very soft and home-bound. So it was easy for me to enact this character as compared to the one I played in Galaate. But I enjoyed both as I want to portray a variety of characters,” says Haardika, who was earlier known as Nisha.

The name change happened after Galaate, when her family and friends suggested that she adopt a name which sounds positive.

“Nisha was always my pet name. But astrologically, my name was supposed to start with an H. Changing names is a common thing in the film industry. So what I did was not such a big deal,” she adds.

The actress will be making her entry into the Tamil film industry as well.

Bagging two projects –– Onbathula Guru and Aal ––  from very good banners, Haardika is
extremely excited about the ventures.

“I had never planned getting into movies. So when I got offers from Tamil films as well, I was happy. I am familiar with the language as I have watched many Tamil movies and also have friends who speak it. But it was when I went there that I realised I had more to learn. But now, I am comfortable there as well,” she adds.

Onbathula Guru is a comedy, where Haardika plays a girl, who always listens to her mother whereas Aal is a remake of the Hindi film Aamir.

“It’s nice that film-makers are approaching me with a variety of roles. Because of my features, I am generally approached for bubbly, glamourous and college student roles. But now, I want to do more challenging roles and experiment with more female-oriented projects or even an action film,” she sums up.