Sunflower girl

‘Support from fellow actors made it easy for me’

Dayana Erappa was a Kingfisher calendar model in 2017, six years after she set foot on the ramp. A role opposite Silambarasan a.k.a Simbu in the Mani Ratnam film Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (CCV) was enough for Super 30 and Queen director Vikas Bahl to cast her as a social media influencer in the web series, Sunflower, which will soon stream on an OTT platform. “I grew up watching Mani Ratnam’s films. He presents his heroines beautifully. I was not thinking of a career in films when the call to be cast in the film came. But I did take it, and it

triggered things. Now I love being in front of a camera,” shares the Coorgi girl.

Dayana says she speaks Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi rather well, and is working on her Telugu.

“I can read and write Hindi, but I had an accent. However, when I was shooting for Sunflower, they loved it, as I play a girl who cannot speak Hindi well. The director, Vikas Bahl, told me to improvise on my character as much as I could and I did that,” the actress says .

The tall, pretty model, who had initially thought the call from for a Mani Ratnam film was a prank, says she had a lot of support from her fellow actors in both projects.

“Mani Sir took care of so many things during CCV, and Vikas Bahl Sir was also supportive. The actors who worked with me were co-operative, and that helped,” she beams.

Dayana, who auditioned for her role in Sunflower, says she is continuing to audition, and is awaiting announcements from filmmakers.