Be‘witching’ bombshell

[1]

Shriya Saran

Shriya Saran couldn’t have asked for a better way to kickstart the new year, with the highly anticipated Midnight’s Children finally set to release on Indian screens. She essays the role of ‘Parvati the Witch’, the principal love interest in the film. “Parvati is born exactly seven seconds after midnight on August 15, 1947 and she is blessed with special powers,” she explains, “Her interactions with Saleem and Shiva, the protagonists, make for a very intense love story.”

Talking about how she landed the role, Shriya says, “I have worked with Deepa Mehta before for Cooking with Stella and we were able to touch base again just as she was finalising the cast for Midnight’s Children. It was just my good luck, I guess and I am really grateful to her for the opportunity.” Still, it was brave of her to sign a film that was bound to face resistance in India, thanks to the association with Rushdie. In fact, for a while there was uncertainty about whether the movie would even release here.
“I am huge fan of Rushdie and I fell in love with Midnight’s Children when I read it in college and have read it several times since then. I adore him for his inimitable style, subtle sense of humour, strong and complicated characters. I couldn’t not be part of the movie. Also, it’s a great team, a huge project and I truly believe in all of them.”
She is understandably stoked about the movie and only reluctantly veers away, when questioned about some of her projects in the pipeline, especially her big Sandalwood debut due this year. “Currently, I am shooting a Telugu movie, having just wrapped up Chandra. It also has a sweet little love story woven into it,” she says.
Shriya is actively in involved in several philanthropic projects and in the aftermath of the Delhi gang rape incident, she had expressed grief, while calling for strict action. She tweeted, “Don’t take it lightly because your locality, neighbourhood or city is safe. Tomorrow, it could be you. Let’s make sure that incidents like these are not repeated ever again. Men should be afraid of the repercussions before they even think of it.”