She was barely out of school when she made her debut in Kannada in Nanda loves Nandita. While it’s been 11 long years since we’ve seen her in Sandalwood, Bengaluru lass Nandita Sweta has carved her own niche in Telugu and Tamil cinema.
Armed with an impressive number of films in both the languages, the actor makes sure that she picks roles where she can showcase her acting prowess. While she will soon return to Kannada cinema with My Name is Kirataka opposite KGF star Yash, she’s now awaiting the release of IPC 376 and more.
As she chats with TNM post the release of her bilingual Kalki, Nandita, who loves to break into her mother tongue Kannada every now and then says, “The response to my role has been good. I was happy seeing myself on screen in this role. For the first time, I played a Muslim character – her name is Asima Khan. She’s a burqa-clad woman, who wants to open her own company, but faces opposition from a lot of men. My role was quite challenging and I had a range of emotions to depict – the body language, the slang, the strength of the character are things I enjoyed portraying. I love breaking stereotypes!”
The actor now has Akshara and IPC 376 lined up and reveals that she’s particularly proud of her role in the latter.
“IPC 376 is about rape. I play a cop, my look has already been released and it was trending online. The makers were thinking of approaching Nayanthara, but that didn’t happen and then they decide to pick me as I’m comfortable with both Tamil and Telugu,” says the actor, who’s kicked about doing yet another woman-oriented flick.
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Along with working out, Nandita’s also been watching her diet to stay fit for her action-packed role. After having done a plethora of films last year, the actor now wants to be picky with her movies.
“From Prema Katha Chitram 2 to Devi 2, I had so many back-to-back releases. I’m going to pick only a few films this year,” she maintains.
As for the Kannada industry which introduced her to cinema when she was just a teen, she’s going to be back with My Name Is Kirataka.
“But that’s on hold for now as Yash is busy with KGF 2. To be honest, I haven’t gotten great offers from the Kannada film industry. I can’t re-enter the Kannada industry and start from scratch as I’ve already made a name elsewhere. Kirataka was a good movie to star in, but post that I need to do movies which are in the same league,” reveals the actor, who admits that she’s being stereotyped by most people who offer her roles.
“Since I did quite a few traditional and village belle roles, I was being offered only similar characters. When I played a modern woman in Devi 2, people said – why a modern role? I’m just trying to experiment. In Seven, my introductory scene went viral - I don’t want to do random roles where I just laugh and smile. I’ve now decided not to do anymore average roles. I’m trying to see what works and what doesn’t,” she states.
For someone with no film background, Nandita’s had to carve her own path to get where she is today.
“I’m definitely proud of myself as I’ve made it so far without a godfather. I had no knowledge about films and didn’t know Telugu or Tamil either. But now, here I am, receiving awards for my films in other industries. I have a long way to go, I’ve just about learnt how not to be naïve and how to deal with people after learning from my experiences,” says the actor, who often gets requests from fans in her hometown asking her to do more movies in Kannada.
As she signs off she says, “I’m definitely more of an actor than a star.”