The surprising Sana

She is the only girl from the old city  and from a conservative Muslim family to enter Tollywood. And though Sana Shanoor has acted in over 500 films, during a career spanning 18 years, she has always maintained a low profile. The model, TV and film actress,  who is a household name today, is not from a filmy family and no one around her talks about films.

Sana says she started working in films because of her interest in dance, “In our family no woman ventured out without a burkha, I was the first one to break that rule, and not many people in my locality knew I was an actor,” she says, adding that her parents have been a continuous source of support.

When she went for a modeling assignment, the organisers thought that she was from North India and immediately signed her. “At that time when I was on a TV assignment, director Krishna Vamsi saw me and took me for his film Ninne Pelladatha,” remembers Sana about her first film.

The film went on to become a huge hit and she became busy with films apart from her Television assignments.

While the actress seems young enough to play the role of a young girl herself, her son and daughter have already completed their graduation. “When I was studying Intermediate I got married,” says Sana. Her father-in-law was a sub inspector and a broadminded person. “He actually encouraged me to complete my graduation,” she says.

Sana, who still wears a burkha when she goes out says, “I have visited many Hindu temples, including Tirupati. I believe in all Gods,” she says.
The actress is popular for playing Hindu goddesses. “Yes, I play the lead in the TV serial Adi Parasakti. I played all the avatarams of the Goddess although I don’t know much about Hindu gods,” she says.

Sana played a negative character in the film Veedithe starring Vikram. The film was released a couple of years back and the actress surprised everyone with her performance. “Actually, after a long time I did a Tamil film and was greatly appreciated for my role,” says Sana. “My son wanted to get into filmmaking and he wanted to start with a Tamil serial. So he went to Chennai to discuss with a few people. He wanted to cast me in his serial.

While talking about his project in Chennai, he came to know about the film and suggested my name. That’s how I got this big Tamil project. But the makers asked my son not to take me in his serial as they wanted to hide my character as a promotional campaign,” adds Sana.

Apart from her film career, Sana, has political ambitions too. “Yes, I am thinking about joining politics. If you look at our area, the people have been the same, there has been no change at all. So I wanted to fight for the people and raise my voice,” she says.

When asked about Pawan Kalyan’s new party, she says that she has never met the actor, but was impressed with his speech. “I don’t kn-ow whether I will join his party, but I can relate to his ideologies.”