From goddess to glamourous ‘Parvathy’

Sonarika of fame plays a glam gal called Parvathy in a Telugu film The storyline is very interesting and I have 30 different costumes

Mahadev

Sonarika became a known face as she played Goddess Parvathy in the serial Mahadev. She was just 19 years old when she first played the goddess. “When I was first offered the role, I refused. I was just 19 and I did not want to be Parvathy maata. I was scared that people would call me ‘maata’, and moreover in the serial I was to have had two kids,” says Sonarika who felt that this was a role for a senior and experienced actor.

However, her parents and grandmother told her to do the serial. “They follow the serial closely. They said that it has come to me as God’s gift, and forced me to do the character,” she says. A big Shiv bhakt in real life, she recounts, “May be it is funny, but when I got this Goddess Parvathy offer, I used to get snakes in my dream. When I called my grandmother and asked about it, she said that it was because I rejected the character and asked me to accept it,” says Sonarika. The serial ran for a year and Sonarika became a household name. “People from rural areas would touch my feet and in some places people even did aarti for me.”

But Mahadev is not the first serial that Sonarika has acted in. She did a serial titled Tum Dena Saath Mera. “When I was in Class X, I went to a party with my aunt who designs costumes for a television serial. That party was attended by many casting directors who approached me for their serials. But I refused as I wanted to focus on my studies. They again approached me when I was in junior college and I agreed. I faced the camera for the first time when I was in Class XII,” says Sonarika.

While doing Mahadev, Sonarika got offers for Hindi films but rejected them. “I had signed a contract with the channel for the serial so could not take on any other film or serial. So I had to reject every offer that came to me,” she says. After the serial was over, Telugu film director Yogi approached her for his film Jaadugadu. “The storyline is very interesting and I have 30 different costumes. The director is very clear about the story and the outcome that he wants,” she says. The film’s shooting is almost complete. “When I signed this Telugu film, I was scared because of the language. But my co-star Shourya and the team helped me overcome this difficulty. I would write the dialogues in Hindi and that helped my pronunciation,” says Sonarika.

Interestingly her character’s name in the film is Parvathy! “It is surprised me when the director told me the character’s name. I believe that it all coincidence,” she says.

— SK