Sure of herself
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Slowly and steadily Rakshita is climbing the popularity ladder in the Telugu film industry.
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The time has come for ravishing Rakshitha.
FROM THE moment she steps onto the shore - in that famous song sequence in `Idiot,' her debut film in Telugu - in clothes that made her look like she had been poured into them, a new screen sensation had arrived. Ravishing Rakshitha is re-emerging in Telugu films after close to a year's sabbatical during which time she was busy doing films in her mother tongue Kannada and in Tamil. She has reportedly shed a few pounds to gain a top slot in Telugu films. The weight loss seems to have done wonders to her career as she has two top-notch films on the floor- one with Chiranjeevi and the other with Jagapathi Babu. In a freewheeling conversation on the sets of veteran producer M. Arjuna Raju's `Jagapathi,' the bubbly actress talked about her career and other things.
"I play myself, a very bold girl," laughs Rakshitha talking about her role in `Jagapathi,' where she is co-starring with Jagapathi Babu. "She knows what her aim is and knows how to achieve it. Call her a go-getter. Basically I am a very energetic person. If the other person does not show the same kind of energy then I become dull. It applies to my career too. But touchwood so far I have had versatile co-stars." In an untitled film by Geetha Arts she plays a cameo opposite Chiranjeevi. "It is full of fun and nice role. I wear half saris in the film," giggles the petite actress.
Men dominate
It has been three years since she entered films and she already has around 30 films in her kitty. "I go around as I do Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. Of course I have become choosy these days. If I am not choosy now, I will never be able to do what I really want to do. Till now I have done the type of roles that other people wanted me to do, I guess. Now at this moment for a change, I want to start doing things according to what I choose."
But where does she stand with such firm views in a male dominated industry? "I don't think we should judge things by this. Look, a heroine finds a place somewhere or the other. A film is so incomplete without a female lead. We somehow squeeze in and find our rightful place," she laughs heartily. "Male domination is not just in films. It is there in every field."
What about experimental films? "Till now I have never explored that front. But I may end up doing an art film this November. It will be in my mother tongue Kannada as I feel for such films one should be thorough with the language too. I always wanted to do an offbeat film, not for awards but because somewhere inside me there is an urge to do such films too. The other films I am doing in Kannada are all very commercial in nature."
Her recent release in Kannada, `Kalasipalya,' with Darshan is heading towards a silver jubilee and still running to packed houses. Her last film in Tamil, `Madurey,' with Vijay too was a box office grosser. One of the qualities of Rakshitha is her ability, perhaps unwitting to invest what she did with a quality that transcended the merely physical. Her looks and manner have a sly innocence, a seductive naiveté as witnessed in Teja's `Nijam.' She has matched inch by inch with the performance of the film's hero Mahesh Babu (who won a Nandi award for his role in the film).
"How much of a problem I had with Teja on and off the screen that doesn't really matter at the end of it. Let me be very open about it. Teja helped me a lot to get into the skin of the character. He moulded me as an actress. It is so different from the regular kind of heroine roles and gave me such energy during the shoots. I am not very good at Telugu but all my emotions came out so well and so spontaneously. It needed a lot of homework and I would not have carried it so well without my director. Not just that film, even in my other films if people liked my performance it is because of my directors."
Her story
Rakshitha hails from a family steeped in films. Her father B.C. Gowri Shankar was a renowned cinematographer and cranked many of thespian Rajkumar's films. Her mother Mamata Rao acted in a few Kannada films. "We are very close to Dr. Rajkumar's family," recalls Rakshitha who spent most of her childhood under the care of her grandparents in Mumbai. She had dropped out of college three months after enrolling for a B.C.A. course, to pursue a film career at the insistence of Parvathamma Rajkumar. "She took me for the female lead in their home production, `Appu' opposite Sivarajkumar. The film was a big hit and I never had to look back," smiles Rakshitha. "My original name was Swetha. Parvathamma Rajkumar said that if my name starts with the letter `R' it would bring luck to me. And it is she who gave me my screen name. And it worked. You know Rakshitha means one who can safeguard."
So she ensures a minimum guarantee for the producers? Pat comes the reply, "Probably the maximum." The answer is followed by loud laughter. Is she just sounding optimistic? She replies nonchalantly.
"I am a very optimistic person. I mean why should you fall because people give you some negative vibes. Look everywhere you may have negative vibes around you. But that does not mean you should start thinking in the negative. I have a very positive attitude towards life. I strongly believe that's how a person should be."
So saying she signs off the conversation, moving towards the arc lights for that one more sensitive and sensible performance.
M.L. NARASIMHAM
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