Actress Nivetha Thomas, who is presently busy in Telugu films, has acted as the daughter of Rajinikanth in Darbar. She shares her experiences of working with Superstar.
“Actually, I had not met Rajini Sir before working in Darbar. The first time I met him on the sets, I saw him as the character Aditya Arunasalam and I knew I was going to play his daughter. Only on the last day of the shoot did it sink in that I had worked with Rajini Sir. I also took a picture with him. It was surreal. Till then it was just a rapport between a screen father and daughter.”
Praising the Superstar’s simplicity she said, “He is so grounded and always jovial on the sets. Since he has two daughters in real life, he treated me with the same affection. I learnt a lot from him. At 70, he keeps fit by doing simple exercises twice a day. We all eat together during break time. And he works really hard to get his scenes perfect. I was amazed with his energy quotient.” Nivetha said she had told Rajini Sir she wanted to cook Bisibela Bath for him one day and the latter had accepted this open invitation.
The young actress was impressed that Rajini walked around without any security. “We were shooting at the busiest Marine Drive area in Mumbai. A scene where both of us walk along the walkway was shot and he did not opt for bodyguards.”
Talking about three appas —namely Mohanlal (Jilla), Kamal Haasan (Papanasam) and Rajini (Darbar) with whom she had acted, she said, “Mohanlal Sir admires cinema as an art, Kamal Sir expects perfection and Rajini Sir is a very jolly and warm person.”
Nivetha is gearing up to watch the First Day First Show of Darbar along with the public in theatres in Chennai.
