Actress Ritu Varma, has become an over night sensation after the success of her much talked about film Pelli Choopulu. On this occasion, we caught up with her for an exclusive interview. Here is the transcript.

Q) Firstly, did you expect such huge response for Pelli Choopulu ?

We always knew that we made a good project but never imagined such a huge response. Especially, for an young actress like me, this kind of appreciation is just heart warming. The feeling is yet to sunk in and I am loving every bit of my success.

Q) How is the industry treating you ?

Everyone has been very generous and have said some good things. Stars like Nani, Rana and many others have personally called and congratulated me for my performance. A lot of production houses have started calling me and I hope things will be surely good in the future.

Q) Your character in particular has won huge appreciation. How do you feel ?

Yes ! I have been getting so many messages from everyone saying that they see themselves through my role. The complete credit should go to my director Tharun who wrote such a strong role and made the film touch the hearts of many.

Q) How difficult was it to perform such a sensible role ?

We had a couple of workshops and did a lot of study as to how my character behaves and talks. As we shot the film in sync sound, there was hardly any choice for error and I had to get everything right with my performance. Also, we decided to go to with less make up and kept things simple.

Q) How did you bag this role ?

As I worked with Tharun in his short film Anukokunda, I knew him personally well. When Tharun brought this film to me, I loved my role and there was no way I could have rejected the film. I feel that it is all because of Tharun’s belief in me that has made things work for me.

Q) What made you get into acting ?

I am a north Indian and was born and brought up in Hyderabad. After my graduation, I won a beauty pageant and that is where Tharun spotted me and roped me in for his short film. Initially, I never thought about acting and as Tharun wanted to shoot his short film in just two days, everything happened so fast. Nothing was planned and here I am, loving myself with what ever I am doing.

Q) Can you recollect any memorable moment during the shoot ?

The scene with my father during the end of film was quite a memorable one. I am very close to my dad in real life and got very emotional while shooting for that scene. I never used any glycerine and all the emotions came to me naturally.

Q) How was it working with Vijay Devarakonda ?

We both worked on Yevade Subrmanyam but hardly interacted with each other. I always thought that Vijay was Rishi(Vijay’s character name in Yevade Subamanyam) in his real life too. But during the filming, we became close friends and the chemistry is there to see.

Q) What according to you worked for Pelli Choopulu ?

Frankly, even though the story was a bit simple, I feel that the realistic nature of the film worked wonders for Pelli Choopulu. Tharun etched every character so close to reality that everyone is connecting to it in a big way.

Q) Tell us about your producers. How was it working with them ?

Most of the credit should go to them. They believed in our project and backed it right till the end. Also, the presence of Suresh Babu has taken the film to another level.

Q) So what next for you now ?

I am totally enjoying the fame that is coming my way. I want to do some memorable films where my characters have a strong impression and I feel that today’s new age directors like Tharun will come up with some beautiful roles which will challenge me an actor.

Q) Your upcoming projects ?

As of now, I have not signed any Telugu film but my Tamil debut is getting ready for a release in September.

Interviewed by Avad