I’m a fun loving person, says Lavanya…
…and so crime comedy Happy Birthday is right up her street!
I NEVER GAVE ANY THOUGHT TO LONGEVITY BECAUSE I ALWAYS EMPLOYED THE ‘LET’S SEE HOW IT GOES’ APPROACH. MY FOCUS WAS ON HOW I COULD BETTER MY PERFORMANCE. I WAS NEVER IN THE RAT RACE OF DOING FILMS AND TRYING TO BE THE NO. 1 ACTRESS. I BELIEVE ALL AN ACTOR NEEDS IS CONFIDENCE AND COMPETITION IS SECONDARY. I FEEL EVERYONE HAS A SPACE IN THE INDUSTRY AND I AM ALWAYS AT EASE WHEN IT COMES TO SIGNING FILMS
Lavanya Tripathi, who says she will be seen at her comic best in the upcoming film Happy Birthday, says she’s a fun-loving person in real life, though people think she has a serious nature.
“I think the misconception might have stemmed from the kind of roles and films I have done,” she says, adding that she’s talkative around people she knows well.
In Happy Birthday, though her role is what she describes as ‘funny’, Lavanya also has action sequences. In fact, while training and rehearsing for the action scenes, she suffered several bruises on her body. “I realised why heroes are paid a little more than us,” she laughs, admitting that doing action scenes is challenging.
Although she rehearsed under the action director, kicking butt was tough.
“Just like in Hollywood films, I had to perform action scenes while wearing heels. So you can imagine what I went through,” she says.
However, she says she thoroughly enjoyed the part, adding that, if you enjoy doing something, it doesn’t become taxing.
This will be another ‘different’ role that the audience will be seeing Lavanya perform. She says it was a conscious decision to take on such varied roles. “That’s how I have been picking my projects,” she reveals. This is Lavanya’s
10th year in cinema. She made
her debut with Andala Rakshasi
(2012). “I still feel I am new and learning,” she says.
“But of course, I have already learnt so much as a
person and as an actor too. I have learnt by striking up conversations with people from different walks of life,” she shares.
Lavanya admits that she hadn’t thought she would be able to sustain for so long in the industry. She ascribes her longevity to hard work and perseverance. “I never gave any thought to longevity because I always employed the ‘let’s see how it goes’ approach. And my focus was only on how I could better my performance and exceed expectations,” she maintains.
She feels that had she not been in cinema, perhaps she would not have been this mature and empowered. Ask her what she had realized in this journey so far, and she replies, “always listen to your heart.”
“I was never in the rat race of doing films and trying to be the No. 1 actress, etc. I believe all an actor needs is confidence and if you have that, competition is always secondary. I feel everyone has a space in the industry and I am always at ease when it comes to signing films,” she says.
Meanwhile, the actress, who has just returned from a two-week vacation in Turkey, is still revelling in the picturesque locales of that country. “This is my first trip abroad post the pandemic! I was waiting to go on a holiday, and my friends suddenly planned one,” she says. “I enjoyed it so much that I literally forgot to take pictures,” adds the actress, who went on the trip with her girl gang.
She says she was impressed with the castles and the architecture in Istanbul and also enjoyed trips to the beautiful mountains. “I love anything that has any historical significance,” she says, adding that she wished she could have stayed longer in Turkey. Meanwhile, the first look of Happy Birthday, a crime comedy directed by Ritesh Rana, was released a couple of days ago.