Female-led Tamil & Telugu narratives have low market'
Faria talks about her choice of roles and her upcoming show
Having tasted success with Telugu film Jathi Rathnalu, Hyderabad girl Faria Abdullah is now looking forward to her Hindi OTT debut, The Jengaburu Curse. Directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda, the film is set in a small town in Odisha. It follows the story of London-based financial analyst, Priya Das. When her father, Professor Das, goes missing, Priya is forced to come back to Odisha, and the drama unfolds. We talk to Faria about the show and her career.
Does Jengaburu Curse have a message?
The show talks about a lot of issues but it doesn’t get preachy. Most of us don’t realise how much pollution and dirt we are spreading. Creating awareness is the need of the hour. If we are unable to bring about changes in 10 years, we could be very close to the end of life on Earth. It’s painful to imagine a world without trees and greenery and all the beauty of Nature. I don’t want my children growing up in such an atmosphere. In fact, I’d rather not have kids.
This is a de-glam role. Are you worried about being typecast?
It’s very easy for heroines to be typecast. The first step is to prevent it happening in your own head. You should not stick to a certain format; instead, you should be confident of handling whatever role comes your way.
What kind of roles do you dream of doing in different languages?
I think there is a very low market in Telugu and Tamil for female-led narratives. I am not talking about feminist films, but stories told by a woman. So there’s no point in my wishing to do such films. In both Tamil and Telugu, films where a heroine is adored by the hero are accepted. So I am looking forward to doing a nice love story or an intense story not seen before.
Tell us about your upcoming films.
I am working on a film with Allari Naresh, in which I play the lead. It’s the debut directorial of Ram, and produced by Chilaka Production. We have completed 30% of the shoot. It’s a movie which the family can watch together. I am also doing a Tamil film with Vijay Anthony.