When you are open to learning, or unlearning, you keep improving: Rakul

18/10/2017

The last few weeks have been quite exciting for Rakul Preet. While her Tamil-Telugu bilingual, Murugadoss's Spyder with Mahesh Babu, hit screens amidst many expectations, she also got busy wrapping up her Bollywood film Aiyaary. More recently, the actress was named the brand ambassador of Telangana's Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign. In a chat with Chennai Times, Rakul talks to us about being seen in a Kollywood film after a while, why she doesn't get intimidated by her co-stars and how you can't feel completely secure in the industry. Excerpts:
You've had a release in Kollywood after almost three years...
I don't look at films as comeback ones and non-comeback ones. It's not like I was sitting at home for three years, doing nothing. I treat a film like a film and look at it as a means to gain experience. I had signed Spyder even before I was given a narration. SS Rajamouli, Mani Ratnam and AR Murugadoss are some of the directors I've always wanted to work with, and when this film came my way, I just took it. The combination of Mahesh Babu and Murugadoss was too tempting to let go off, and the icing on the cake was that it was a bilingual and I'd get a chance to work in the Tamil film industry after a while. I got busy with work in other languages and this seemed like a good film to get back to Kollywood with.
This is the first time you've worked on a bilingual. How easy or difficult was it to shoot simultaneously in two languages?
It's not easy to do bilinguals, especially in languages you are still learning! If my lines were in Hindi and English, I would know the content and I can speak them fine. But my lines were in Tamil and Telugu. I've become fluent in Telugu now, so it was relatively easier for me to get those lines. But when I had to immediately switch to Tamil, I would end up mixing words. It puts a lot of strain on your mind and it takes a lot to keep your concentration together.
Murugadoss would ask me if I wanted to do Tamil or Telugu scenes first and I would tell him to finish the Tamil sequence first, because I would have memorised my lines and I wanted to get done with them first. Doing the dance numbers were tougher than shooting the scenes. You learn a line and do the step and your body is tuned to it. When you switch languages, it's like your body stops cooperating; your body is tuned to a different set of lyrics and when the words change, it gets confusing. Even for Mahesh Babu, it was difficult because he has more dialogues. The whole shooting was taxing, but a different experience.
But people have been appreciative of your lip sync.
I used to cram up subjects as a student; I'd score well in subjects that kids were not in love with, like history! So, I just mugged up my lines while shooting for the film. I speak Telugu and I also understand Tamil. I guess learning the lines by heart helped.
You're also working with siblings Suriya and Karthi in Kollywood next.
I'm yet to start work on my film with Suriya, but I loved shooting with Karthi in Theeran Adhigaram Ondru. This is a kind of role that I haven't done before; I play a typical Tamil ponnu. And Karthi was of such a huge help he helped me in getting the timing right. He also helped me a lot with the dialogue. If I forgot a word or couldn't remember the lines, he would sweetly tell me how it would start and I would take it forward from there.
Do you ever get intimidated by a co-star or a director?
If you work with people who are better than you, you will get to learn a lot. If you get intimidated, why are you even there? I look forward to meeting people who know better than me because I can gain from their knowledge. Learning is a subconscious process; you can never quantify it and say that I learnt A, B, C and D from there. When you work with people who have a different thought process or have more experience than you, you will learn something from them. I know I've learnt a lot, but if you ask me what, I won't be able to tell you. I've grown as a person because of what I learnt from people. When you are open to learning, or unlearning, you just keep improving.
With big films in your kitty and various brand endorsements to your credit, do you feel secure today?
I don't look back, because if you do so, you are staying in the past and the future will not be in your focus. You can't stay in the past, and I'm not saying this because it sounds good to listen to. I don't dwell on what has happened and don't say, 'Oh my God, I've reached this level in my career'. I'm never satisfied and that's why I think a lot about my future. More than getting a break, it's tougher to sustain in the industry because the question is always 'what next?' I've cravings to do certain kind of roles and I've the desire to be successful. In this industry, if you are dedicated, you will get great films. But you can never feel completely secure because the offers can stop at any point of time. It's not like you get a salary at the end of every month. If you don't do well, give flops, you will be written off. And it's not even in your hand.
You have to enjoy the journey and keep wanting to do more.

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