'Acting is a liberating experience'

Actor Aishwarya Arjun says if there’s one person who has played a big part in shaping her thoughts, ideas and made her the person that she is today, it is her father, actor-director  Arjun Sarja. She believes her father is a ‘complete man’ because not only has he excelled in his profession but has always made time for the family.

She couldn’t have asked for a better debut in the Kannada film industry than with ‘Prema Baraha’, given that her father has scripted and is directing it. The project is a love story but a very different one. She plays a journalist and prefers to call her role as “intense” and “extremely engaging”. In an interview with Nina C George, she talks about her foray into the Kannada film industry.

What took you so long to enter the Kannada film industry?

I don’t believe that I should have entered the Kannada film industry just because I am the daughter of an actor. I completed my education and I’ve always loved the arts but I knew that it would be a huge responsibility for me, coming from a family of actors, directors and producers. It was only after I attended a couple of workshops in acting, that I realised that my love lay in acting. It was a self-discovery of sorts.

On being an actor...

Acting is a liberating experience. I have been getting offers to act when I was in school but I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to be an actor, until I completed my first film ‘Pattathu Yaanai’ in 2013 in Tamil. I didn’t have any fear or inhibition when I began and I don’t have it now either

You are also a trained dancer...

Yes, I am a trained jazz, hip-hop and salsa dancer. I started learning kathak only two years ago. My mother is a trained bharathanatyam dancer but I chose kathak because I find it a very graceful dance form and one that offers room for self expression.

Your father’s influence on you...

My father has played a big part in my life. I have never in all these years, ever heard him say that he doesn’t have time for us. When I was a child, he always had time to tie my shoes lace, complete my science diagrams because he was very good in drawing and even drop me to school. Even now, whenever I am busy with shooting, he irons my clothes and makes me a cup of coffee.

What are some of the lessons you have picked up from him?

I would like to learn how to strike a work-life balance the way my father does. He manages both these things in the most beautiful way. I haven’t really found anybody else who fits the bill of being called a “man” the way my father does.

What’s your role in ‘Prema Baraha’?

It’s a love story but scripted in a very different way. All the films made by my father
have a patriotic flavour to them and this one is no different. I essay the role of a journalist and I think this would be any actor’s dream role because the character offer both versatility and intensity.

On being directed by your father...

I was extremely skeptical first but I was at ease when he began treating me like an actor on the sets and not as his daughter. As a director, he knows exactly what he wants from his actors.   

About costar Chandan...

Chandan is a very natural actor and there’s really nothing pretentious about him.