I play a village girl: Vasundhra

Vasundhra Chiyertra tells TOI about her forthcoming film Thenmerkku Paruvakaatru...
Bagging the role...
The makers of Thenmerkku Paruvakaatru were looking for a heroine who could dub in Tamil. For the audition, they asked me to come in a sari. I went dressed up in a modern chiffon with prints sari assuming it would be a modern character. I had gotten the costume wrong but they felt that I would be able to play the character.More than being apprehensive, I was rather intrigued when director Cheenuramasamy narrated me the story. The director told not just my part, but the entire story, the characters and even the dialogues, which gave me confidence. And my mom had been saying, ���������You can���������t call yourself a Tamil actress unless you do a village girl role���������.
My character...
I play a village girl from Theni who is very bold outside but pretty conservative at home i.e., she accepts whatever her brothers and sisters-in-law say at home but when she goes out, she behaves arrogantly with an I-can-do-whatever-I-want and my brothers are behind me attitude.
Preparation...
Cheenuramasamy gave me a long list of movies to watch to prepare for the role. Kizhakku Cheemaiyile, Subramaniapuram, his own Koodal Nagar, actress Revathy���������s films and most importantly Virumaandi, which I watched eight or nine times. He asked me to notice the body language of the heroines from these films. I was not allowed to do anything that regular actresses have to do ��������� no grooming eyebrows, no waxing, and no combing the hair. But I didn���������t have to try to get a dark complexion; I went to Theni for the shoot! It is so hot there.
Shooting in villages...
We stayed in Theni but shot in interior villages. I used to play with the goats, chicken and calves in the village and I had lots of fun. The villagers were often calling me to eat with them, asking me about my life and sharing their life with me. One lady even complained how her coconut trees weren���������t producing enough coconuts this year! I used these opportunities to observe how people in a village behave. In movies, they seem to be uptight and conservative but they are really warm and welcoming.
Being a Tamil-speaking heroine
...has its own pluses and minuses. Some directors look at my hairstyle and my modern attire and think that I���������m a ���������Bombay girl���������. But when they ask me something in Tamil and when I reply fluently, they remark, ���������You speak Tamil!��������� And when I say that I���������m a native of Tanjore, they just go ���������Oh! Okay��������� as if all their hopes has been dashed. On the other hand, there are directors who are glad that I���������m a ���������namma ooru ponnu���������. Luckily, the directors of all my five films have been of the latter kind.
Follow us on Twitter for more stories