Darshana Rajendran in Paradha
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Actor Darshana Rajendran speaks of the things she was worried about as she prepared to work in the Telugu film, Praveen Kandregula’s Paradha. It was a “very new world” as an actor because it was her first time in a Telugu film, the metre (as an actor) was unfamiliar, and the budget much larger than Malayalam films, which percolated to other aspects of filmmaking. All of which took time settling into. Then there was “the language and the driving that was involved,” she says over the phone.
“Fortunately Amishta, my character, is based in Delhi, so her Telugu too is not fluent which gave me peace.”
Darshana Rajendran in a scene from the film
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
She confesses to being “really worried” about handling the language, unlike Tamil or Kannada, which can be picked up with some degree of ease by Malayalam speakers. With little or no time to learn the language, she enrolled anonymously for online Telugu language classes to understand it better. “The grammar, the usages…I knew I would be able to learn the lines but, as an actor, I wanted to know what was being said to me so that I would be able to respond.” She wanted to be present and intentional in her approach to the role. Incidentally she dubbed for the film in Telugu.
Among the “random things” she did to get a better hang of the language was watching Telugu-dubbed Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey. “I knew the lines, and the context; so I was able to understand the language and the responses better.”
What complicated it was that the character spoke very fast, which meant she had to have command over the language. “I have quite a few lines in the movie; so, I spent my mornings, evenings and nights on it,” she adds, laughing. Fortunately sync sound plans were dropped.
With Anupama Parameswaran and Sangeetha Krish in the film
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
She had to work around no one challenge but rather a combination. “I was ready for the challenge, but doing it all together was difficult. It was not just the language. It was a different space for me, because Amishta is not like me.”
She speaks fondly about how welcome she was made to feel and the affection she was showered with while filming. “The relationship the Telugu audience has with films and their actors is very different. I don’t feel like Hyderabad is not home, I am almost adopted, made friends and feel wrapped in its love.” Though she is a familiar face because of Hridayam and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, the warmth she experienced is special.
After these films she was getting offers from the Telugu film industry, none of which was tempting enough. That was until Praveen approached her. “I knew of him and his film, Cinema Bandi, which I enjoyed. I liked the story, when Praveen narrated it, and the character, immediately. I am very excited to be part of a path breaking film!” The others in the film are Anupama Parameswaran and Sangeetha Krish.
The draw was also that Praveen was attempting something different with Paradha — a story of three women (with three women in the lead) — which was not an indie project but a commercial film, unlike other Telugu films.
Did having another Malayali, Anupama Parameswaran, as part of the movie help? “Anupama had been in the industry for almost 10 years, navigating the industry. . She spends a lot of time there, when she is working. She helped me feel at home; held space for me. She and Sangeetha [Krish] akka saw me through a lot of things while filming!”
She will be in Hyderabad of the release. “I usually keep my parents away from movie release events but this time I have asked them to join me in Hyderabad because I feel we will be experiencing something different!”
Paradha is playing in theatres.
Published – August 22, 2025 09:41 pm IST
