One day there will just be Indian films: Sangeetha Sringeri

Kiranraj K’s Kannada-language film ‘777 Charlie,’ which follows the journey and bonding between a lonely factory worker (essayed by Rakshit Shetty) and a stray labrador dog, has been receiving a lot of praise from critics and viewers alike. The film’s lead actress Sangeetha Sringeri been also been praised for her portrayal of a champion of animal rights in the film. Best known for role of Sathi/Parvatii in the Kannada daily soap ‘HaraHara Mahadeva,’ Sringeri finished in the top 10 at the Miss India beauty pageant in 2014 and was runner-up at the World Supermodel contest. She has also starred in films like ‘A+’ and ‘Salagara Sahakara Sangha’.

The makers followed a rigorous audition process before Sangeetha Sringeri finally got selected for the part. “From the brief that I got I learnt that the makers were looking for a female lead. They were looking for a relatively fresh face and since I hadn’t done a lot of work previously they found me suitable on that front. I was called after six months when they finally selected me after having auditioned around 2000 actresses,” reveals Sringeri. “I am playing the part of an animal welfare officer named Devika. She is a very stubborn person who likes to stick to her beliefs and so she can be a little rude to those people that she doesn’t like. I love dogs and I have been adopting many stray dogs,” adds Sringeri.

Sringeri is thrilled to see the growing pan India appeal of the films from South India. “I am very proud to see how most of the good, content-based films are being dubbed into other languages. It is actually opening the market to everyone and now the Indian content space is becoming even more creative.” She feels that the best of Indian talent should come together to make more and more world class films that can outshine even the best films from Hollywood. “Our competition is not just within India. Today, we are competing with Hollywood and various other leading industries globally. So, I believe the best way forward is to not see this as a competition between the North and the South but to actually work together and create the best films possible. One day probably there will something wherein films are not seen to be from Sandalwood, Tollywood, or Bollywood. There will just be Indian films,” asserts Sringeri.

Sringeri who comes from a military family likes to see Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone as her role models. “Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone are among few of those actors I look upon whenever I want to motivate myself because they are also from a similar background that I am coming from. So, I try to relate a lot with them,” reveals Sringeri whose upcoming projects include films such as ‘Lucky Man,’ with Puneeth Rajkumar and Darling Krishna, and ‘Marigold,’ with Diganth Manchale.

The World Supermodel contest runner-up feels that the film industry had to face the worst of the pandemic. “Our industry is probably the worst hit by the pandemic. I say this because our industry needs to be on the ground to work and get the content made. When we are shooting there have to be so many people out on the sets. That’s how our movies work. A lot of other industries, on the other hand, can operate fully with the people working from home,” opines Sringeri.

Speaking about the uncertainty created by the pandemic, Sringeri adds, “There has been so much of uncertainty in our industry right from the onset of the pandemic. Those who wanted to start a new project couldn’t start it and also the older projects had to be put on hold. In personal capacity, because of the pandemic I couldn’t take any decision on whether to sign a film or not. Also, once the offers started coming our way, they came with lower remunerations as understandably the producers have incurred huge losses because of the pandemic and so they are now operating very cautiously and with smaller budgets.”