Radhika Pandit: I play a flirt in Drama

Radhika Pandit, one of Kannada cinema's most promising and bankable stars is buoyed by the big success of Adhoori and the average run of her latest release Sagar.

She plays the lead in Yogaraj Bhat's Drama which is releasing across Karnataka this Friday, November 23. 

In this interview, Radhika Pandit shares her excitement about playing the lead for the first time in a Yogaraj Bhat film, and her role in the movie.

What is Drama all about?

The film cannot be classified in one genre. You cannot say it is an action-based film, a comedy, or a romantic film.

The movie has all these elements and for the first time Yogaraj Bhat has experimented with a murder mystery.

What is your role in the film?

I play a flirt in the movie. This character came as a total surprise to me for I am known for playing the homely, traditional girl-next- door type of role.

I was a bit apprehensive about playing Nandini who flirts to get things done. She makes boys do her work. It's a kind of a bold character that I hadn't tried before.

As an actor, I thought it was a wonderful challenge for me. I loved playing the role.

Nandini is an independent and modern girl who represents the woman of today. There's a reason she behaves in this particular way that is revealed in the movie.

How different is your appearance in the movie?

People will see Radhika Pandit in a different avatar in the movie.

I have worn shorts and modern clothes that add glamour to my role.

How difficult or easy was it to play this kind of role?

It is really a nice feeling to know that director Bhat trusted me to carry off this role well. As an actor I love challenges. This role came as a challenge to me.

Donning different costumes and wearing western outfits doesn't make you modern. You need to carry it off well, with attitude.

Yogaraj Bhat and the team helped me with the dialogues. We worked on how this girl has to behave and her mannerisms.

He gave me a few mannerisms that I have carried throughout the move, like how I should stand, bite my lips, and I have introduced all of that in the role.

You did wear western outfits in one of your earlier films, Gaana Bajaana. How different is the role in Drama ?

The role that I played in Gaana Bajaana was that of a tomboyish girl who identified with the guys. There was nothing feminine about her.

I played a rough and tough girl in the movie. In Drama I play a flirtatious girl who uses her femininity to get things done.

How do you describe Yogaraj Bhat's style of functioning?

I was impressed with his narration of the story and the mystery element that he planned to introduce in the script as an experiment. We were all excited about the script. We worked together as a team.

Even our cinematographer, Krishna, has a major role to play as he has shot some of the sequences really well to go well with the narrative.

Most Yogaraj Bhat characters are talkative and dialogue, which is his forte, is apt and meaningful. You'll see this in this movie.

This film is fun, fast paced and entertaining. Most of Bhat's stories have been love stories. But Drama has an undercurrent of a love story.

What kind of freedom did you enjoy as an actor while working with Yogaraj Bhat?

He explained our roles to us and gave us the freedom to introduce a few of our own suggestions.

We sat together and discussed each other's roles so that we could put all that into action. I had to mouth the regular Bangalore dialect while the boys did get to mouth Mandya dialect.

How was the experience of rapping for a song?

When I went to the studio to dub for my portion, I was in for a surprise. I was given a lyrics sheet when I was expecting that I would be given my dialogue sheet.

Bhat told me to rap. I said I can't even sing forget rapping! He said let's try it. They said if they don't find it good, they will not retain it.

I was very confident that it won't be retained and so I went ahead and rapped. I don't know how it has turned out but it was retained.

It was fun. I got to lip sync my voice for the first time.

To what do you attribute the big success of your movie Adhoori?

I grew up listening to this adage that hard work never fails. It is very true of Adhoori.

We really put in a lot of hard work, especially the film's director, Arjun. He worked so hard and didn't let us know what he was going through. The film went through a financial crisis and took about a year to finish.

There were times when we used to shoot day and night without many things. We didn't know what was happening; all that we could do was to accommodate dates when needed.

There were days when shoots didn't happen or things kept being postponed. Arjun didn't compromise on the film as we all believed in the product.