Shriya, who is the brand ambassador of Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), was in the City recently for a promotional event. In a chat with Metrolife, the actress spoke candidly about her latest projects and her journey so far. After spending over 10 years in the industry, Shriya is happy that her career graph has been good. “It was more like a learning process for me. I took my profession seriously and I succeeded to strike a balance between my personal and public life. Though there were ups and downs in my journey, it was exciting,” she says.
After working in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and English movies, the dynamic actress feels that all the industries work in a similar way. “The flavour or the taste of the audience is different in each industry but the actor’s job remains the same. Whatever may be the language, we have to express our feelings and exhibit our acting skills in a similar way,” she points out.
She confesses that her knowledge about Sandalwood is limited. “I don’t know anything about Kannada industry. I am very impulsive in accepting roles. If an offer comes from Kannada, I will definitely consider,” she reveals. Among all her co-actors, Shriya admires Rajnikanth the most. “It was a wonderful experience working with Rajnikanth in ‘Shivaji’. He is very humble, simple and down-to-earth. He is also kind-hearted. I haven’t seen any other actor with a success story like his. He is my hero and I would love to work with him again,” she says.
Meanwhile, she says that she hasn’t got any offers to star opposite Kamal Hassan and adds she would like to work with him. Shriya has completed shooting for ‘Winds of Change’, directed by Deepa Mehta, which is based on Salman Rushdie's highly-acclaimed novel ‘Midnight’s Children’. “It was a pleasure working with her. I really enjoyed and was attached to my character ‘Parvati’ in that film. I don’t mind working with her again,” says the actress who doesn’t want to reveal much about her character.
Shriya, who is also known for her philanthropy, is associated with many NGOs and a blind school. “Recently, I opened a spa which exclusively employs visually-challenged people. Unlike others, the visually challenged have a very good sense of touch and sound. This inspired me to employ them in the spa,” she explains.
The pretty actress is now busy working in a Tamil and Malayalam movie. “I am working in Rowthiram opposite Jiiva and we shot the film at some exotic locations. Apart from that, I am working with Mohanlal in ‘Casanova’,” she says.