'Heart is where art is'

She is one actress who uses her dancing skills to easily mould into any role that is given to her. Her talents have not only fetched her many roles, which were experimental and commercial, but also gave her an opportunity to enter Bollywood, where she shared screen space with Amitabh Bachchan.

Bhavana was not seen in Kannada movies after that, other than in recent National Award-winning Vimukthi. Now, after a one-year-hiatus, she is back in Vishnuvardhan’s 200th film, Aptharakshaka, a movie, which she says she couldn’t refuse. “The moment I got an offer from the team, I decided that I have to be a part of that film. It’s indeed an honour to be a part of Vishnuvardhan’s 200th film. I have got a prominent role in the film,” says Bhavana, who will also be seen in Ravichandran’s Manjina Hani.

P Sheshadri’s movie Vimukthi is another movie that really intrigued her. She played the role of a painter’s daughter, highlighting the Electra complex. Bhavana says that it’s a film she enjoyed being part of. “The script was really interesting. We had gone to Varanasi to shoot for the film and I fell in love with the place. It brought out so many emotions from the actor in me. The complex was shown very subtly but what really attracted me to the role was the fact that the lady I was playing was self-made and not the typical ‘heroine’,” she describes.

The award did bring a smile on Bhavana’s face but this does not mean she will consciously stick to just parallel cinema. “People have branded me that way. It’s never been like that. I don’t want to be a heroine who is crying all the time. I want to do commercial movies, maybe even a romantic comedy,” she says.

Brushing off rumours about her leaving Sandalwood, she says, “I don’t know why people outside feel that if I do one Hindi movie, I am gone forever from here. That’s not true at all. It’s just that I am not getting any good or interesting offers,” she says.
   “I made that move to Bollywood because at that point of time, that’s where I wanted to see myself. I have always given importance to the role, not the language of the film,” he adds.

But amidst all this, one thing that has remained constant in Bhavana’s life is her dance.
    Ask her where she finds more content, in dance or films and she smiles, “I just cannot choose between the two. Heart is where art is.”