This story is from June 20, 2008

Simply Shriya

TNN / Jun 20, 2008, 00:34 IST

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Shriya is the toast of Kollywood and has worked with all the major stars. TOI gets up close with the heroine on her forthcoming projects.

Shriya is the flavour of Kollywood, ever since she became Rajnikanth's heroine in Shankar��s Sivaji.
Overnight, she was the hottest girl in tinsel town. She got the best of the banners and pick of superstars featured opposite her. Some big stars even went to the extent of adjusting their call sheets to suit her dates!
Shriya had everything going her way and the industry pundits were predicting big things for the Delhi girl as she was the perfect mix for the south Indian male audience's fantasy.Shriya is milky white, has a flawless skin, perfect figure, beautiful smile that will melt any heart, and has a touch of class.

She is a trained Kathak dancer and is a literature graduate from the prestigious Lady Shriram College in New Delhi. A year ago, one of Kollywood's top directors said- "Shriya Saran is a combination of beauty, charm and temptation, the ideal heroine material for Tamil cinema".
Says Shriya: "To be honest, Rajini sir's heroines can piggy-back ride on his popularity. Thanks to him, I got so much attention and respect from the masses and the industry." She signed two of the biggest films at that time with the industry's top stars - Vijay's Azhagiya Tamizh Magan (ATM) and Vikram's Kanthasamy - and had no dates for less popular actors. ATM released for Diwali 2007 and bombed.

But it was her decision to do an item number with Vadivel in Indralokathil Na Azhagappan that really backfired. She laments: "Yes, I agree that it was a blunder. But don't blame me for that as I agreed to do this song only after the situation was narrated to me.
But when I landed up in Kutralam, I found that they had totally changed the milieu and I had to dance with Vadivel in a different situation. I could do nothing about it and if I had walked away citing this reason, it would have caused more trouble.��
But Shriya takes all this in her stride and considers it as yet another learning experience. She is doing two English movies The Other End of the Line with Jesse Metcalfe (TV serial Desperate Housewives star) and What's Cooking directed by Deepa Mehta. She says it was a "fantastic experience" working in English films. "I play a call center girl in Mumbai who goes to San Francisco in search of my love played by the obnoxiously handsome Jesse Metcalfe in The Other End of the Line. I had great fun doing the film," says a gushing Shriya.
About criticism in Kollywood that she cannot emote, she retorts,��No more item numbers for me. Deepa Mehta had a workshop for 15 days before we started the shoot and at the end of it, she hugged and congratulated me for my performance. It helps me study the characters I portray. I believe in method acting.��
Shriya has completed Mission Istanbul and Ek in Hindi while she is shooting for Kanthasamy in Tamil. She has also signed up KS Ravikumar's film in which she plays Sarath Kumar's daughter. Adds Shriya,��It has a beautiful script. If you are a father, you will love it and if you are a daughter too, you��ll love it. I am very excited about this film as it is not the run-of-the-mill variety.��
The buzz is that she may be chosen by Kamal Haasan as his heroine for hisnext film Marmayogi, which will also have a Hindi and English version. About having a right mix of movies in Bollywood and Kollywood, Shriya is quick to reply,��Language changes the flavour of people and honestly, I think it's unfair to differentiate cinema with language. I think we have to bring cinema under one umbrella and call it Indian cinema.��
Ask her about competition and Shriya is all smiles, ��There is enough work for all of us. I share a great rapport with Trisha and Reema; we hang around when we get time. The best part of our friendship is that we don't discuss work and we respect each other.�� Shriya signs off saying, ��Kollywood has been extremely nice to me. I have been lucky to have met nice people and trust me, I��m still waiting for the dream script.��

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