It was December 1989. Prem fell in love with Suman, and the entire nation fell in love with the pretty lass in Sooraj Barjatya’s classic romantic tale Maine Pyar Kiya. Actress Bhagyashree Dassani who attained stardom overnight, has earlier acted in a couple of Kannada films including the popular Ammavra Ganda alongside Century Star Shivarajkumar, and a remake of Kannada classic Om directed by Real Star Upendra in Telugu —Omkaram. She now returns to Kannada for the Nikhil Kumar and Rachita Ram starrer Seetharama Kalyana, in a special role. In an exclusive interview with Bengaluru Chronicle, the lovely actress who is also busy shooting for 2 States in Telugu, in which she plays a Bengali mother, talks about past ventures, her fitness and nutrition classes which she exclusively takes for a few select clients across the globe, and her thoughts on a newer version of Maine Pyar Kiya, and more.
The actress announced that she is ready to take up more challenging roles in the future too.
“I have had a great experience working in all my Kannada films thanks to the good directors I have had, and the entire casting team. It was like a homecoming for me while working for Seetharama Kalyana. It was all thanks to director A Harsha with whose assistance, I was able to pull it off. It was he who made me understand every single dialogue which helped me emote to such precision while acting. I share a unique chemistry with Nikhil Kumar in the movie which the audience will find surprising,” says Bhagyashree Dasani, giving us a peek into the film.
For her, after being on a hiatus for long, it is the variety of roles she has had the opportunity to portray in Kannada movies that has given her immense satisfaction as an artiste.
Insofar as her other south Indian ventures are concerned, she has been shooting for 2 States in Telugu, where she plays the role portrayed by actress Revathi in the original Hindi version. In between, she acted in a television series titled Laut Aao Trisha.
“A couple of years ago, I had a health issue. I couldn’t move an arm, and the doctors had advised me to get it operated to make it functional again. However, I decided not to get it operated, and let it heal the natural way through exercise and healthy living. This is when I started studying about fitness. I attained several degrees including ones from standard American Universities like Standford and Pennsylvania. Now, I run exclusive fitness and nutrition classes for clients across the globe, of which a majority are connected with me digitally,” she adds.
She explains that it is never too late to learn new things, and one doesn’t really need to age if a healthy way of life is adopted and followed religiously.
“Health issues, fitness and nutrition education kept me busy and hence I didn’t take up more work so I could balance work and studies. I have hardly spoken or publicised much of about myself. Now, I am ready to take up more challenging work. I guess I am ready for it now,” the actress says.
The actress who married her school sweetheart Himalaya Dasani, and has two children hopes to straddle both her professions now. With a few classic Hindi films being remade in Hindi, what of the blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya? She says that she had in fact interacted with Sooraj Barjatya himself, who expressed that it would be challenging to recreate such an innocent love tale in the present context.
“I would love to see a newer version of it. I guess it is truly a classic for the reason that it is difficult to find such innocent love today. But, it will be a challenging task for sure,” says the actress who is from the Sangli Royal family.
