Regina Cassandra opens up on the challenges of starring in a massy film and why Ajith’s Vidaamuyarchi was different. "The journey has been enriching," she says
Regina Cassandra
Regina Cassandra is all set to bring her enigma to Vidaamuyarchi, where she stars opposite Ajith Kumar. When we sit down for a conversation with her, we talk about her character—an adventurous, thrill-seeking woman who keeps everyone on their toes. With shades of mystery surrounding her, the big question remains: is she a hero or a villain?
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Regina says, "That’s for the big screen but I did it because it's with Mr Ajith Kumar. And this is the first superstar from Tamil that I'm working with. This film itself, the journey of the film has been so enriching. Right from working with my director Magizh Thirumeni and placing my trust in him to write a character that I could actually do justice to. The confidence that he has had in me to pull off this part is so fun. She's so layered. I enjoyed every single dialogue. He had given me my script and I'd written all my doubts and questions and added things to this. The process for me was so enriching as an actor, in spite of it being a big budget superstar film. When you're playing a character like this, sometimes you might not be given that much importance. Sometimes your scenes could be cut. There could be so many things that could go wrong for me as an actor, which I have no control over at the end of the day. But the fact that I was that I could place my trust in my director to utilize and make me feel like no one could have played that role. I think that was the most important takeaway for me from this film."
Ajith Kumar in Vidaamuyarchi
The tone of the set runs from the superstar as well, she adds. “Having worked with him and seeing how he just carries himself and keeps the people around him on set is heartening. He's an inclusive person. He includes everyone in everything. Usually, if you see mainstream, massy movies, I feel the female parts are shabbily written. The quality of writing for me as an audience itself matters. The quality of writing at the end of the day when it comes to many characters. Where be it the South or North or whatever, you know, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, whatever, Kannada. If you see a very weakly written character, it's just why do you even have this person in the film? Coming to someone who has experienced these things, which is why I stress a lot on trusting my director. As a woman in this industry, as an actress in this industry, I go as far as placing my trust in my director. There have been many instances in the past where I felt let down by my directors, I feel like it just makes me sad. It just makes me feel detached from whatever I signed up for."
Why don't we see her as much in Hindi, we ask. She laughs, “This is damn funny because in Hindi, I get asked this question. And in Tamil, I get asked this question. And in Telugu, I get asked this question, you know. There are three Hindi films of mine now and two are complete and ready for release and one is almost towards completion. I shot the other two Hindi films over the last two years. Actually for the last three years there is stuff that I've done. It's not in my hands and the release is definitely not in my hands. I'm hoping that it changes this year with Hindi. I would like the makers to in fact pay more attention to me. I have never networked for any of my films today, right from when I started. When I started off, the opportunities came to me because of the ton of short films I had done and they happened to be all over the Internet back in 2008. I've never felt the need to go to a certain place or be in a certain place to be seen with the right people. So it's all been very organic and I like it like that. Like 20 years after doing my first film, it's been a long, tedious, tiresome process because unless you go out there and push for yourself and try to get work, it's not going to happen. And I've been told that many times. Even when I came, before I did Rocket Boys and I was looking to do Hindi work as well. And after I did Ek Ladki Ko Dekha, I was told that you have to be in Bombay for six months if you want to get work here. But I was also doing really well in Telugu and Tamil and I didn't want that shift. And I didn't think honestly, if I thought that it was going to work for me 100 percent and, you know, I'll have to work hard and do this and do that, I was fine. But I felt like I didn't want to be a part of that race of one of the many people living in Bombay and struggling to get auditions. I had a body of work in the South and I love doing auditions. But it’s the chase and the race I don’t get."
Her next is Jaat directed by Gopichand Malineni, starring Sunny Deol and Randeep Hooda among others. “Sunny Deol is actually a very non-interfering actor. And he's a director's actor. He comes, he does, and he goes. It's quite refreshing working with him as well. And the entire set of Jaat was quite a fun set. It's really nice to see that a Telugu director is directing a big budget Hindi film and has got the responsibility on his shoulders. As a South Indian, it just makes me proud."
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