Captivated by the South

SHE'S MAKING it big. Every project that has starred her has clicked. First, it was `Poovellam Kaettupaar' with Surya, then one song appearance in `Vaalee' and `Mugavari' with Ajith and now `Kushi' with Vijay.Her success story has only started. She's doing a five-language film with Priyadarshan, who launched her with `Doli Saja Ke Rakhna'. Now, Jyotika will star in his all women subject (a remake of Marathi flick `Bindaast') also featuring Sharbani Mukherjee and Tabu.

Down South, she's all set for a glorious innings, a project with veteran director Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, a film opposite Surya, who was her co-star in `Poovellam Kaettupaar', but the biggest of them all, is her role opposite Kamal Hassan in K.S.Ravikumar's `Tenali', that is slated for a Diwali release. Attired in a heavy `tribal' outfit and dreadlocks, Jyotika took some time off in Chennai to look back and think ahead. ``I am here to stay,'' she declares. ``I have faced a lot of rejection. My first film `Doli Saja Ke Rakhna' did not do very well, so I have learnt to deal with failure,'' she says.

``The audience like me. That is a positive sign. I want them to talk about me and my performance when they leave the theatre,'' says the ambitious actress, who has been doing performance-based roles for a newcomer.``I started getting offers, since the song appearance in `Vaalee','' she recollects. Getting into films was no problem at home with her Dad being a producer for 35 years, and both her sisters Nagma and Roshni already into films.

So was her sister any influence on her, to get into this profession? ``No not influence, only guidance. She has been of great help,'' she says. Only that she misses home (Mumbai) now that shooting takes all her time. Believe it or not, inspite of being around in Chennai for an year now, she has not explored much, though she likes the beach side on East Coast road a lot. ``Every time I get a break, I fly back home,'' she says.

Then why here and not Bollywood? ``South is too fast compared to Bombay. There you can only do two films a year. You can have upto eight releases here,'' she reveals.

No question of free-time? ``Not at all,'' she says. Given up on friends then? ``No. I'm still close to my friends. A few people. I have always been a normal person. It (the profession) hasn't changed me at all,'' she insists.

So where does she go from here? ``I just want to continue till I get the right kind of fame, success and then settlement at the right time,'' says the `heart'-person.

Way to go. Though it might surprise many that the Hindi-English speaking heroine is yet to pick up the local language here. Not a problem really, she says, for there's someone who dubs for her regularly. ``I do understand Tamil. But I speak it with many grammatical mistakes. I am fluent in Hindi,'' she says as she gets a call-a summon to the sets and she excuses herself.

By Sudhish Kamath

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Section  : Entertainment
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