Rakul bares it all in ‘Sarainodu’
Actress returns with a nuanced, makeup-free role in her latest Telugu film
Here is one actress who never plays hard to get.
Rakul Preet Singh will always return your call and reply to your messages.
The Delhi native and mathematics honours graduate found her calling in films and has had steady work after her debut with Kannada film Gilli. She has also acted in Telugu films and has done two Tamil films, Thadayara Thakka and Puthagam.
In Sarainodu, releasing in the UAE today, she plays a rural girl.
This Telugu film is directed by Boyapati Srinu, known for his action films. From the trailers, it looks like Sarainodu (The Right Man) also belongs to the same genre.
“Yes, it is a complete commercial action entertainer with family sentiments woven into the story,” says Singh, who has made Hyderabad her home.
She plays Mahalakshmi in a role that required her to express a lot of emotions through her eyes.
“This is the first time I am appearing onscreen with no makeup,” she adds.
Singh’s romantic interest in the film is played by Allu Arjun and she also acts alongside Catherine Tresa.
“Catherine plays Divya, an MLA. Our characters have a different [path] in the story, so we had few scenes together,” Singh says.
She says director Srinu makes every role interesting by adding nuances in the characterisation.
“Despite knowing that the action scenes are not real, he goes about it with great conviction and that seems so real. I enjoyed working with him and will be doing my next film with Srinu,” she says.
A fan of Arjun, Singh adds that her co-star strives to make every role of his different, be it with a change in body language or voice modulation.
The supporting cast includes Aadhi, Jayaprakash, Pradeep Rawat and Vidyulekha Raman. S.Thaman has scored the music with Rishi Punjabi has done the camera work.
Sarainodu is produced by Arjun and has been dubbed into Malayalam as Yodhavu.
Singh has signed her third Tamil film with director Mysskin. In this yet-to-be titled film, she is paired opposite Vishal.
She is awaiting her second Hindi release, Shimla Mirchi. She made her Bollywood debut in 2014 with Yaariyaan.
Shimla Mirchi is directed by Ramesh Sippy and it gave Singh the opportunity to work with veteran star Hema Malini. Singh plays Malini’s onscreen daughter.
“My character is an independent woman and stubborn, too. She wants to make something of her own. And she shares a strong bond with her mother,” Singh says.
She first met Malini for the reading of the script and was blown away by her unassuming nature.
“Hema ji is a dedicated artist and a perfectionist who continues to rehearse on her lines till she gets them right,” she adds.
Calling Shimla Mirchi a quirky love story, Singh says she felt a little anxious on the first day of her shoot with co-star Rajkumar Rao.
“He is a hard worker and soon I got comfortable with him. Now, he is a good friend now,” Singh says.
Singh will soon be working on her next Telugu film, the remake of Tamil action film Thani Oruvan, opposite Ram Charan.