'I want to grow as a person'

Strong role

Shwetha Srivatsav has worked on three projects so far, two of which were nominated for awards. One even won her the best actress award. Despite all the recognition coming her way, Shwetha still prefers to work on only one project a year. Why? “I am happy with the kind of projects that are coming my way. I’ve always wanted to work in a women-centric film and now in ‘Kiragoorina Gayyaaligaalu’, I got exactly what I was looking for. I must say that I feel blessed in a lot of ways,” states Shwetha.

‘Kiragoorina Gayyaaligaalu’ is directed by Suman Kittur and based on a novel of the same name written by Poornachandra Tejaswi. Shwetha says she fell in love with her character in the film going by the name of Danamma. “The character is bold, strong-minded and a determined one. She takes up the cause of the women in her village who are subject to harassment or any other kind of injustice. She is outspoken and it is this trait that makes her popular among the villagers,” explains Shwetha. 

Shwetha has not only changed her looks for the film but has also spent a lot of time trying to learn ‘Halli Kannada’ and get used to walking around without slippers. “I had to mentally prepare myself for the role. The ‘Halli Kannada’ sounded like Greek and Latin to me, so I had to spend time trying to adapt to the language and also get used to life in a village,” she elaborates.

The film is shot in Harohalli, a tiny village near Kanakapura. “I am not someone who socialises a lot. I like my privacy and have always kept all my interactions minimum. But for this movie, I had to move around and speak with a lot of people because we had to gather many of them for some of the scenes. And by the end of the shooting schedule, I had bonded well with most of the villagers,” she adds.

Shwetha says that in ‘Kiragoorina Gayyaaligaalu’, she is the hero of the film. “Regular movie-goers always want to know who the hero of the film is but they never give the same amount of importance to the heroines. This perception will change with this film and people will start appreciating women-centric roles,” she states.  It’s not only acting, Shwetha has also wanted to step into direction and says that she has been looking for a suitable subject. “I want to grow as a person and I think direction is the way forward for that,” she states.