Shivani Rajashekar, who has been spending her lockdown helping her family with the household chores, admits that being away from work has been frustrating. “The pandemic has taught us how precious life is and how all are equal in front of Nature,” says Shivani reflectively.
She had a dream start when she was offered to debut in Two States, the Telugu remake of the Hindi film with the same name. It was even being launched amid glitz and gala a couple of years back. However, the romantic drama ran into rough weather over creative differences among key people in the unit.
“It was so disheartening to learn that the film had to be put on hold. But then I realised that these things do happen,” Shivani shares, adding that she understood that even for someone like her, who belongs to a family of film personalities, the going can get tough. “I’ve been trying to enter the industry for five years now, but it hasn’t been easy. Earlier, I went through hundreds of auditions and faced rejections because I was apparently too tall at 5 feet 8 inches.”
Clearly, nepotism is not something that works for everyone, we realise. “Yes, although except in rare cases,” Shivani adds. “Several things change when it comes to films, and merely having a filmy background will not get you projects.”
But through the challenging times, Shivani drew strength from her actor parents (Rajasekhar and Jeevitha).
“Born in a filmy family, I have seen how things work my parents have gone through ups and downs,” she elaborates. “They also encouraged me to keep constantly working, which only made me stronger.”
But Shivani will soon be seen in a yet-untitled film, whose shooting is almost complete. Giving us a sneak peek into the film, she says, “It’s a love story directed by Mallick Ram, and I am paired opposite Teja Sajja. I play a college goer in the film, and the plotline has some interesting twists and turns.”
