Sandalwood actor Ragini Dwivedi is on cloud nine after her recent trip to Australia to attend the ‘Sydney International Film Festival’. The festival saw the screening of ‘Ragini IPS’.
She was also elated that she was the only South Indian actress to go for the same, along with Bollywood actresses Esha Gupta and Bipasha Basu.
This actress, who is busy with her projects, took this trip to explore the prospects of Kannada films overseas. “It was a fantastic film festival and I was surprised to see the audience for Kannada films. I never knew there was such a huge audience for the industry in Sydney. Apart from the festival, I had also gone for a Kannada Association programme and that is when I realised the passion the people settled there have,” she says. Ragini recollects that people singing and a large turnout at the event. “It’s nice to see how people keep their traditions alive, even if they are overseas,” she says.
Meanwhile, the young actress wore her brother Rudraksh Dwivedi’s designs at many of the events at Sydney. “I’m a proud Indian and I love wearing Indian clothes. It’s always wonderful to wear something your dear one has created for you and showcase it to the world. My brother’s extremely talented, very professional and he knows what to design for whom. He will soon start his own label,” she says.
Ragini says that she also got a chance to indulge in some fun activities like deep sea scuba-diving in Sydney. “I want to train professionally in it and get my certificate too,” she says. She also got a chance to visit the Opera House.
“This trip was mainly aimed at discovering the potential of the Kannada industry abroad. I can confidently conclude that though we are a growing industry, we have great scope outside,” vouches Ragini.
She says that the audience accepted the movie whole-heartedly. “They are looking forward to more releases and I’m going to make sure that all my films are screened in Australia too.” She had only praises for the international festival and says the event was organised well. This was her first international film festival experience.
Ragini is also excited that she is one of the guests of honour at the International Film Festival of India, which will happen in Goa on November 20. “I will be sharing the stage with Amitabh Bachchan. I have worked with him before in Malayalam film Kandahar and he’s a fantastic human being. It’s after a few years that I will be meeting him. It will be a fun opportunity to connect with him. I’m sure he will be impressed to see how much I have grown in the film industry. It is a big honour to be a guest at the festival, and to share the dais with such an honourable actor,” she says proudly.
Ask her about whose design she will be wearing for the festival and she smiles and says, “I haven’t decided yet. It will definitely be something that is ethnic and Indian. Most probably, it will be something either by Ritu or Manish, but let’s see.”
