For the love of it

When the distance between far-flung continents does not matter, you know it is love. Yes, London-based Priya Lal is in love — with cinema. The medium has captured her senses and bound her — how else would you explain her constant flights between London and India, with her even staying in Kochi for a while, to pursue single-mindedly her passion for cinema. The Janakan and Kunthapura fame was last seen in the Malayalam film Lord Livingstone 7000 Kandi. After the hiatus, Priya will be playing the lead in not one but two films — one in Malayalam and the other in Telugu. First things first, she talks of her Malayalam project Mayil directed by Sharathchandran Wayanad, in which she will be playing a tribal girl from Wayanad.

Priya talks about the beauty of Wayanad, where the film is being shot, and adds that this is the director’s third movie. It was her performance-oriented role that made her sign up for the film. “This is not an everyday film, in the midst of highly commercial films; I got a role that allows me to perform.” For the young actress, the numbers are insignificant. She would rather wait for a good role than take up roles just to add to her filmography. She staunchly says, “I would rather wait and do a good film because I believe I can perform and I want the audience to remember me as an actress. This role in Mayil is different in terms of the makeup, costume and body language. Lal plays my father.”

Priya says she is a patient person but there have been times when she has wondered ‘what next?’ She says, “I keep shuttling between Liverpool and India and I was very clear that acting was what I wanted to do. So there is no reason for me to feel dejected. All I can do is to not lose sight of my goal and be passionate and focused on what I want. I also have no regrets about my projects and the current projects are films that I am very hopeful about!”  

In the meanwhile, she has also acted in a Telugu film titled Guvva Gorinka as the lead, which she was busy with for the past few months. The film is a commercial rom-com that will be releasing in December. Priya has the habit of watching Telugu films so the language barrier was almost non-existent for her. She also mentions that both her movies are female-oriented and considers herself lucky to have acted in them. Not so long ago Priya’s name was linked to Baahubali fame Prabhas as his fiancé, with her photos doing the rounds of social media sites. Priya laughs hard at this and says, “I had the same reaction. Even now, when I go to Hyderabad, I get asked about that. I have no clue how the news originated and prefer to keep mum now.” Priya is also doing her distance education in English literature and creative writing.