Big-budget films in her kitty

Three years ago, she made her debut in Crazy Boy followed by notable performances in Mugulu Nage, Raju Kannada Medium and her biggest blockbuster Rambo-2 alongside Sharan. Actress Ashika Ranganath, who is fondly referred to as ‘Karnataka’s crush’, has two big movies being directed by popular directors — Simple Suni’s Avatara Purusha made under Pushkar Films and Pavan Wadeyar’s Raymo in her kitty. That apart, she recently signed P C Shekhar’s next, which is yet-to-be titled. Ashika will be seen alongside Dynamic Prince Prajwal Devaraj for the first time in Shekhar’s action-drama. The ravishing actress speaks to Bengaluru Chronicle on being ‘choosy’ and about competition with her actress-sister Anusha Ranganath, who recently signed a sports drama on boxing alongside Vinay Rajkumar.

“After the enormous success of Rambo-2, offers just kept pouring in for me. Prior to that, I had accepted few films for friendly reasons since I could not say no to a few. Now, after three years in the industry and especially taking my career into serious consideration, I became very choosy about the projects I signed. Hence I have three films — Avatara Purusha and Raymo and P C Shekar’s action drama,” says Ashika Ranganath.

Ashika’s returns with Sharan for the second time (after delivering one of the biggest hits) the actress reveals that she signed Avatara Purusha because it has a great team, right from the Sharan sir to the director and the production house.

“For an artiste, it is the the content, and then the working atmosphere which is the main priority. With regard to the content, audience will be totally surprised by watching something completely new on the big screen. In short, Avatara Purusha deals with ‘black magic’ from a different perspective. Yes, there will be comedy too but with a difference,” she adds.

“The technical team led by Simple Suni and production house Pushkar Films which is producing a series of hatke films including Avane Srimannarayana plus the cinematographer William David, who worked for Rangitaranga is the reason I chose Avatara Purusha”, says Ashika, adding that insofar as Raymo, directed by Pavan Wadeyar was a dream come true venture.

“I am a huge fan of the film Googly  by Pavan and so I signed  Raymo, the moment it came to me. I am glad that I did not sign just any other films and waited for the right ones. In Raymo, my character has equal importance to that of the male lead. Yet again, the content and the making will be the star attraction of this venture too,” Ashika says.

About her elder sister Anusha, who rose to fame even before her through the small screen and has now bagged another big project alongside Vijay Rajkumar, Ashika shares that it is because of her sister, she started her acting career. “It is Anusha who motivated me to get into the industry. We both discuss the films which we work on and it feels good to have someone in the family who has been in the industry, to seek advice.” While Ashika plans on learning various other forms of dance, she says that she loves spending time with her family whenever she gets a short break for a day or two. “Other than that, I hit the gym when time permits but soon I would love to join some dance classes,” Ashika wraps up.