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Birth of a star
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A child artiste gets set to take off
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UP AND COMING Sheela makes her debut with `Seethakoka Chiluka'
In Sheela, we have one more child artiste having a shot at stardom. And she is a Telugu, if that matters at all, in as industrywallahs make furious trips to Mumbai for hunting heroines. But Sheela is confident about her prowess to have a long innings in tinsel town despite stiff competition from the imported glam girls. She has every reason to feel so. The debutante heroine has close to 14 years experience in films. Sounds crazy? Count her years as a child artiste and that explains.
The teen beauty makes her debut as a lead star in Hari Gopalakrishna Murthy's Seethakoka Chiluka, nearing completion. "I am fortunate to be cast as a heroine in a banner that made the much acclaimed, Swarabhishekam. It is about a teenage girl, a woman-oriented story." Sheela is on cloud nine as she is sure she is not a showpiece in the film. "There are many shades to the character - light hearted, infatuated, sentimental and emotional. Rarely does one get such an opportunity to showcase both glam and grit in the first film," says the 16-plus-year-old Plus-Two (junior college) dropout.
"I want to continue my academics through private study. But right now film shoots keep me busy. Besides Seethakoka Chiluka is also being made in Tamil as Ilavattam (since its hero Navadeep has become a known name in Tamil after the hit, Arindhum Ariyamalum) meaning youth and I have one more Tamil-Telugu bilingual, Kanna with Anand fame Raja (debut in Tamil) and T. Rajender's teenage musical love story, Veerasamy. The film may be dubbed into Telugu too."
Her role model is Sridevi: "Like her I too have started as a child actor. I am fascinated by her charm and the ease with which she showcases any emotion. Rarely do heroines have such long innings in the industry and that too at the top. I would like to emulate her. I am a fan of Soundarya too for her acting." Sheela started her career when she was barely three. Born and brought up in Chennai, the opportunities came in Tamils films. She has done about 20 films as a child actor. Some of them were dubbed into Telugu too. She says that Guru Pournami won her much praise. "Mani Ratnam screen tested me for his home production, Dum Dum Dum directed by his assistant Azhagar Perumal. I am lucky to be directed by Mani sir for five days during the shoot. Besides these films, I cherish working in Sethu fame Bala's Nanda. I played younger version of Meena and Roja in a few films."
In the four-year hiatus between child actor and metamorphosis as a heroine, Sheela has `concentrated on studies and also learnt filmi dances under dance director Kala.' "As a child I was more into Tamil films than in my mother tongue Telugu. Now that I am debuting in Telugu, naturally I am quite happy. Even when my first film was in the making, offers came from other banners. All this has happened so soon because of the publicity stills from my debut movie Seethakoka Chiluka."
She says that she is looking forward to its release with fingers crossed. Will she shine in an otherwise north heroine dominated horizon?
M. L. NARASIMHAM
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