The pretty ESCAPE artiste!

She is a rarity in Sandalwood. Model-turned-actress from the hills of Giridih, in far off Jharkhand had made an Escape entry into Sandalwood. While on this “escape” route, she is now set for a destruction of a different kind in the bilingual project titled Samhara in Kannada and Samharam in Telugu. Pragya Nayan, an M.tech graduate, who worked for some time in an IT company, took to modelling and then waltzed into films. The Jharkhand lass talks about films, and more in this candid chat.

“I come from a small state which has nothing big in terms of entertainment and the film industry. I always dreamt of getting into acting but before that, I had to finish my studies, and pursued an M.tech from BITS Pilani. Thereafter, I landed in Bengaluru, and worked for an IT company for a few months before I started getting modeling assignments,” says the Escape artiste.

Though they were not huge assignments, I had the opportunity to learn and understand the art. I even did a few short films in Odiya, Kannada and Hindi while I was looking for the right opportunity. After I got through auditions, I bagged Escape,” says Pragya.

Her debut Kannada film Escape is directed by Darshan Kanaka, who passed out from the Pune Film Institute, and has been a part of Ranga Shankara in Mysuru for quite some time now. The team was in search of a pretty girl from North India who had little knowledge of Kannada, and came across this talent who hails from the hillocks.

“Though I have very few dialogues in the film, I learned the language, which helped me to a great extent in portraying the role - it’s that of a cute modern girl’s role in a romantic thriller. For someone hailing from Jharkhand, it was always very difficult to get into films. My parents were very supportive though they were apprehensive. However, as I was also serious about studies, and supported myself by working and even featured in a few video songs and short films. That’s how I gained their confidence,” Pragya adds.

The Jharkhand girl likes to travel, loves trekking through the mountains, and has been learning the classical form of dance, for some time now.

“Back in the North, acting is not seen as something safe for girls to venture into. It’s risky too with no great platform to showcase one’s talent. I have just started, and I hope to do my best to entertain the audience with my talent onscreen. Though I love modelling, acting satisfies me, and lets me express myself, instead of just standing or walking on a ramp. But it does help an actress to maintain physical fitness and stay in shape,” she says, adding that she does aerobics and hits the gym on alternative days though she does not follow a strict diet as she is a big foodie.

The actress loves Bengaluru’s weather but is a bit disappointed with the rise in temperature though she feels at home here. Before escaping, Pragya shares that the film crew scared the daylights out of her during a shoot in Kushalnagar, which when prodded, she says she will share after the film releases!