A dream role for Kavya

The model-turned actress was busy for almost 10 months,  getting trained for one of her most prized project —Ishtakamya which marks the return of ace filmmaker Nagathihalli Chandrashekar of Undu Hoda Kondu Hoda, fame amongst other films. Kavya Shetty, an engineer who took up modelling and later films is all set for another release this season with Ishtakamya.

Even as her other films — Vijayaditya (an epic film), Zoom (special appearance alongside Ganesh), and Shivani in Tamil are due for release, the actress speaks to Bengaluru Chronicle about her upcoming release, and much more.

“It was great and very good learning experience for me as an artiste while working with Nagathihalli sir. Known for his writing, the kind of Kannada language in the dialogue is so polished and perfect. With several national awards to his credit, and many more appreciations, he is still such an active person even at this age.

The  film was shot in one single schedule for about 45 days, which I had never done so in the past,” says the Mangaluru beauty Kavya Shetty, who has a engineering degree in computer science. Though she had signed another Kannada movie, Preetham Gubbi’s Nam Duniya Nam Style is her debut film, and later she headed towards Tamil and Telugu films.

The movie Ishtakamya is based on a popular story published in the 80s, she portrays one of the three main leads in the movie. “It is based on a 30-year-old story. However, sir has completely modified it to the liking of the present. I play the daughter of a rich doctor. It is about a rich girl, who is very dominating with lots of attitude. Soon after my recent Tamil release Idhu Enna Mayam, I took up this special one. I am glad Ishtakamya happened to me. I had to undergo extensive training, as the director is very particular about the character. For about four to five months, I was trained in every aspect from the way I had to look to the diction and acting, too,” she adds.

While Kavya feels lucky that more opportunities are in the offing, she reveals that she is in the final stages of signing another movie in Kannada and as well as one in Tamil. “Once Ishtakamya is released, I may take up another Kannada film. The trailer of my  movie Vijayaditya alongside Dhananjay was recently released. The makers were busy with the graphic works. It is an epic venture, however, I am in the non-epic portion. Meanwhile I took up a special role in Zoom.”

While completely focusing on her role in Ishtakamya, Kavya who loves to travel frequently along with her close friends, says that she is now hooked onto ‘pilates’ to stay fit. “My Kannada is not as good, and the dialogues in the films are of a high standard Kannada. I was lucky that Sir trained me himself. Though I tried dubbing for myself, Sir felt it would be more practical to get someone else to dub for me, she says. In preparation for this role, Kavya watched many movies. “I saw Rajnikanth Sir’s Padayappa and observed the character of Ramya Krishnan  to fine tune my skills for the film,” she says,  while hoping that the film which also marks the return of Nagathihalli Chandrashekar (after a gap of few years) will enhance her career.