If Nithya Menen, who played a photo journalist in "180", sounds too candid at times, then perhaps you can blame it on the fact that she studied journalism. The actress, who does not believe in beating around the bush, in her forthright style had gone on record to tell us why she chose not to take up journalism as a career. "Journalism is not what it used to be. I thought it was an important job, but it is not. I'm idealistic and it pretty much upsets me that negativity sells. I knew a job like that would lead to a lot of conflicts because of the way I amand I wouldn't last long!" she says.
Then does she really get to do what she wants to in films? "More than being an actress, I wanted to make films so that I could say what I wanted to through the medium. Actually, I almost turned down "Ala Modalaindi" because I wanted to learn cinematography at FTI Pune. Nandu (Nandini Reddy) brainwashed me into doing the film. Now I have no regrets," she adds.
While that's Nithya's viewpoint, Priya Anand, a Communication and Journalism graduate from the University of Albany, who also played a journalist in her debut film "Leader" looks at things in a totally different way. "I think journalism, films and all other media go hand-in-hand. I always wanted to get into films and I studied journalism to get to know the technical aspects of production. I also worked as an assistant director for a TV channel. My education has helped me handle all kinds of people and to present myself in a better way."
Actress Shraddha Das, whose last T-town outing was "Nagavalli", holds a degree in Mass Media and Journalism. Shraddha feels that her education stands her in good stead in a tinsel world where actresses have a short shelf life. "Journalism is my Plan B. I took up the course after I had joined films as I was interested in it and it is a related field. In the glam world, nothing lasts forever and after my marriage I do not want to do films. I'd love to be an anchor or a news reader."
Review Rating: 2 / 5
Cast: Siddharth, Priya Anand, Nithya menon, Geeta etc
Cinematography: Balasubramaniam
Music: Sharath
Director: Jayendra
Production: Sathyam Cinemas and Agal Movies
Story:
Ajay (Siddharth) comes to Kasi in a sad manner. He meets a young boy who doesn't have the fear and worry about death. Being inspired from the boy, he forgets his sorrow and turns into a happy living guy next door. He choses to stay in a house and gets close with the owners Geeta and Mouli. Vidhya (Nithya Menon), a photo journalist falls in love with him. But Ajay didnt accept her. What is the reason? Why he is sorrow in the movie at beginning? Who is priya anand? To know answers to this questions, you need to watch the movie on screen.
Performance:
Siddharth performance is good as usual. His character has two shades and he did justice to both of them. Nithya Menon looks little chubby, but was amazing. She suited the character well. Priya Anand role is cute and lovable. The rest did their part well.
Positives:
- Priya anand and Nitya menon.
- Fantastic picturisation of first song.
- Background music.
Negatives:
- Predictable storyline
- Boring second half
- Lack of comedy
- Screenplay
First half of the movie is OK, but second half is too much boring. Last 1 hour of the movie is very difficult to tolerate. I saw people walking away from seats during last hour. It tests the patience of the audience. The movie has no chance to become success at box office.
Few who like tragedic movies may like it, rest can ignore it.
Her releases in Tamil — Vaamanan and Pugaippadam — failed to click at the box-office and Priya Anand is feeling the jitters, even as she awaits the release of her Jayendra-directed 180. The actress seems to be feeling the heat as she needs a hit badly in Tamil to establish herself as a saleable star. In fact, she is more popular in Telugu where she has done the Sekhar Kammula hit Leader opposite Rana Daggabuti.
The actress knows that she has to take the glam route in order to succeed in the south.Industry experts state that Priya has that essential glamour factor to succeed at the BO. The haunting romantic duet Edho Saigirai... (Vaamanan), composed by Yuvan and picturised on Priya and Jai, went on to become a rage in TV channels and gave her a big reach among mass audiences.
Priya Anand confessed to CT, "180 is my re-entry to Tamil cinema. I'm a Chennai ponnu... So it feels like a homecoming for me. I want to be accepted by our audiences, which I feel is a must for an actress to be recognized." Priya says she does not come from a filmi family nor did she have the support of any godfather in the industry.
In a way, 180 is very important in her life as it will help her get the elusive box-office stamp of approval. Says Priya, "I'm confident that my character, Renu, will strike a chord with audiences. The character represents real-time emotions and comes across as a slice of life. Director Jayendra is a genius and has ensured that the entire movie is character-driven. Even though the film revolves around Siddharth, Jayendra has given importance to the female characters played by Nithya and me."
About her co-stars in the fim, she says, "All of us (Sid, Nithya and me) enjoyed working on this project. I share a terrific rapport with Nithya and both our characters are lovable on screen." Priya's major plus point is that she has dubbed for both the Tamil and Telugu versions of the film. "I feel an actress should use her own voice as that brings life into the character," she says.
Ask her about her personal life and she says, "I'm single and totally focussed on work. I don't smoke, I don't drink. I don't go to pubs as I hate loud music. During my spare time, I just chill out watching movies at my favourite multiplex in Chennai. Well, that's me."
The Leader girl is back in the city to celebrate the joyous occasion with her family. In fact, she had an early celebration with her family and friends.
An excited Priya tweeted, "Early New Year's party with the family. Got everyone dancing to Tamil kuthu (numbers). There's no place like home!"
Priya is currently busy with the Tamil-Telugu bilingual 180 opposite Boys Siddharth. Let's hope she signs a few more Tamil movies in the coming year!
Tollywood Lucky Debutant Actress !!
That every year many debutantes test waters at the T-town BO is a given. Predictably only a handful hit the jackpot, while the others fade into oblivision. The story’s the same this year too: as newcomers —Anita (Maro Charitra), Bhanu (Varudu) and Shruti (Taj Mahal) found no takers while pretty newbies Samantha, Priya Anand, Richa and Sheena emerged triumphant with their debut films and have bagged more plum film offers.After her hit Ye Maya Chesave, Samantha has already signed big-ticket films with superstarsNTR Jr and Mahesh Babu and is being hailed as the next big thing in T-town. The level-headed youngster says, “I don’t want to get carried away with my maiden success. I did have lots of offers but I chose to do the films with NTR and Mahesh. The scripts and my roles were fascinating in these big-budget extravaganzas. I am playing a light-hearted role in Brindavanam and a fun role in Mahesh’s untitled film.”
Hotshot debutante Priya Anand had signed two noteworthy films even before the release of her maiden film Leader. “Leader catapulted me to the top league because it was a huge project and the response was overwhelming. I am now doing a big project (Rama Rama Krishna Krishna) with producer Dil Raju costarring Ram. I am equally excited about my other film with Siddharth. With such big projects, I have resolved to settle down in T-town,” says the Mumbai girl, who has also begun dubbing for her films. “I dubbed for Leader and I’ll do abetter job in Rama Rama,” she adds.
Her co-star in Leader, Richa Gangopadhyay on the other hand has just signed a film withRavi Teja. “I am happy to be part of this big venture,” she says. Director Saikiran Adavi says, “Every year we have 80 to 90 debutants but we can barely remember the names of just ahandful of girls. Though fresh faces evoke some prerelease hype at the end of the day only good scripts can spell BO magic.”
And if the fresh faces manage to strike a chord with the audiences and their launchpad also notches up good BO collections, then Ttown becomes the oyster for them. After all, nothing matters more than a success.