A Megha telly star turns filmi

From the city of the historical rock fort — Chitradurgada Kallina Kote and the iconic woman warrior —Obavva, this actress landed in namma Bengaluru working as a web designer after post-graduation. She soon became the Aragini on the small screen, and then made her debut in a couple of Telugu and Tamil daily soaps. Meghana Gowda, who is now Avalu, and a part of Satyam Shivam Sundaram on Star Suvarna, speaks to Bengaluru Chronicle about her new ventures, silver screen aspirations as she awaits the release of Kannada film 3 Ghante 30 Dina 30 Second, and about the alleged rumours that have followed her earlier.

“I never wanted to become an actress. In fact, it was my sister who aspired to be one. I just concentrated on my studies, and soon after my masters in mass communication from Chitradurga, I came to Bengaluru and worked as a web designer at a software firm. I had uploaded some photographs of mine on Facebook which were noticed by the serial director Ravi R Garani. He somehow managed to contact and persuaded me to give television a try. The Aragini serial makers were impressed with my talent though I insisted that I had no clue about acting. Aragini became so popular that I eventually quit my job, and became a full-time actress, and even worked in Telugu and Tamil serials,” says Meghana Gowda.

The actress is currently acting in Avalu, a brand new daily soap which is about an innocent elder sister who sacrifices her happiness for her family, especially her step sister. She is also busy with another serial Satyam Shivam Sundaram, which is the remake of the Hindi serial Ishq Baaz.

When her co-star Harish, from her debut serial Aragini, passed away due to ill health, the actress went through a difficult phase in her life following rumours about her alleged relationship with the deceased actor. She shares, “It was a tough period in my life. I was mentally fraught, so I stayed away from work for over two months. But, I am a strong woman, and came back to face the situation in a positive manner. I knew what were the actual facts, and stayed strong throughout, and finally my name was cleared and the speculations died. Though I had decided to stop acting, it was my family members who boosted my confidence and this helped me get back on track.”

On working in other language serials, she says that the remuneration in other languages is pretty good when compared to Kannada TV. Managing time and travelling is always a tedious task for her, though. “I was waiting for the right opportunity to stay in the Kannada television industry, and fortunately Avalu happened. Now, I am busy with Kannada soaps,” she adds.

Meghana, who is also a dancer has also made inroads into films, with her debut film Guduga. She now awaits the release of 3 Ghante 30 Dina 30 Second featuring her, Aru Gowda and Kavya Shetty in the lead.