Bagging lead roles
SRIKANTH SRINIVASA
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Chirpy Sweta has ruled the small screen and is now ready with her feature film debut in Thangigaagi
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LUCKY BREAK Sweta Chengappa has made that rare transition from the small to the big screen
Upcoming television actress Sweta Chengappa is a lucky star in her own right on the Kannada small screen. She is one of the fortunateones to play title roles in all the daily soaps in which she has made an appearance.
If it was through S. Narayan's daily soap Sumathi that she took a bow into the television world as an actress, she is now playing the title role in Balaji Telefilms' Kadambari (Udaya TV) and Ravikiran's Sukanya (ETV Kannada) that are currently on air.
Sweta, the Kodava girl from Somwarpet has also completed work for yet another serial Soundarya that has been piloted for Doordarshan. Besides, she is also acting in A.T. Raghu's Kodava serial Thamane (Doordarshan). If this was not enough, there's more coming her way.
Kannada film Thangigaagi, which stars Darshan is all set to hit the screens this week. Yes, yet again Sweta plays the title role of a village belle and as Darshan's sister in the movie.
"It is sheer luck that I have been getting to play only title roles so far. Of course I did work in another soap Amruthavahini (Udaya TV) in which I was offered a vampish role. But, people did not accept me in that role. Women started scolding me for accepting such a role as they felt that I shouldn't have done something so outrageous after having cried in all my other serials," says Sweta.
Sweta is a B.Com. graduate from the BHS College, Jayanagar in Bangalore and is a product of Baldwin's Convent, Attibele. She was crowned Miss Vijaya and Miss Spurthi in a college-level beauty pageant conducted by Vijaya College.
Sweta says she participated in inter-school and inter-collegiate dance competitions during her school and college days. "I used to keep telling my mother that I want to appear on television and I have fulfilled that desire. I got many acting offers in my initial days at college. But, Vishwa, a friend of mine who is also a comedian, introduced me to his friends who were looking for someone to play the lead role in the serial Sumathi. I had not got my portfolios done. I went directly for the screen test and got selected for Sumathi, which went on to complete 480 episodes."
In Sumathi, Sweta played the role of an innocent girl who hails from an orthodox family and gets married to a rich guy. She then gets framed for a murder, with her husband turning the tables on her. Sweta got an opportunity to showcase her range of emotions from that of a 16-year-old to that of a 45-year-old woman in the daily soap, for which she bagged the Aryabhatta Award and the Chitra Rasikara Sangha Award. "Strangely, after doing Sumathi, I was offered roles to play mother to heroines my age, which made me laugh."
In Kadambari, Sweta plays the role of the sacrificing elder sister in turmoil, which won the Chitra Premigala Award. Sukanya is another serial on air which is the story of a normal middle-class girl, who dreams of leading a decent family life.
Upon her foray into films, Sweta was also lucky to get a break to act in S. Narayan's film Varsha as Vishnuvardhan's eldest sister . "I was selected for the powerful role even though I did not have the requisite theatre experience." Sweta says she is game for accepting more film assignments with meatier roles. "I would love to do all kinds of roles but I am only being offered soft roles. Yes, I do love sentimental movies and am a great fan of Shah Rukh Khan. Like a typical Aquarian, I believe in being happy all the time. I want to keep smiling because the real Sweta is friendly and full of remorse for those in distress."
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