Kajal Aggarwal is keeping her fingers crossed, as her fourth film in Tamil, the Suseenthiran directed Naan Mahaan Alla (NMA) where she is paired opposite Karthi is releasing this Friday. After three lacklustre releases in Kollywood and a blockbuster in Telugu (Maghadheera), NMA is a make or break film for her. In an exclusive to sify.com, the lanky and beautiful Kajal opens up
How did you decide on doing NMA?
Suseenthiran came to meet me in Hyderabad and narrated the script. The way he acted out the scenes, it got me really hooked. I felt this film is very different from the regular run off the mill stuff. It’s hard hitting and performance oriented role.
What is your role all about?
I play Priya, a middle class girl who falls in love with Jeeva, a nice guy. How an incident that affects him shapes her life as well is the story. The first half is more about the lead pair. Priya is the typical girl-next-door and in fact I have hardly used make up in the film except for the wedding scene. I have usually played dramatized roles which I feel are easier for me to do than what I did in NMA! Here I was asked to tone down and play a normal girl like in real life. Thanks to Suseenthiran I learnt how to re-act and not just act.
In Pics: Can Kajal Aggarwal make it big in Tamil?
The romance in the film and your chemistry with Karthi is much talked about. What’s the secret?
The romantic scenes are not very intimate but more about chemistry and conveying feelings with the eyes. Karthi is very friendly, professional and easy to get along with. From day one we were chatting all the time so the comfort levels were very high. It was easy to discuss the scenes and how we would do them. The way Suseenthiran planned the scenes and how Madhie captured them adds to the chemistry I guess.
You have four films in Telugu on hand. How do you plan to balance your Tamil career?
Yes I am doing four films in Telugu right up till the end of the year. I have films with Nag Chaitanya, Ram Charan Teja, Junior NTR and Prabhas. But I love the Tamil industry. I will work round the clock to accommodate both language films!
You can speak Telugu. Any plans to learn Tamil?
I can understand Tamil and converse in Telugu. I am still learning Tamil. You see I am only three films old in Tamil and it’s a tough language which takes time to learn! But I am working on it.
Are you doing Lingusamy’s film with Vijay?
I have been flooded with offers from Tamil, but let us see how everything falls in place.