Mumbai, Oct 27: National Award-winning actor Keerthy Suresh, known for her performance in films such as “Mahanati” and “Dorothy”, says she was keen to explore stories in Hindi cinema but wanted things to fall into place naturally.
Having established herself as one of South cinema’s most formidable actors, Suresh has tasted wide acclaim and commercial success from films like “Geethaanjali”, “Idhu Enna Maayam”, “Saani Kaayidham”, and “Dasara”, among others.
The actor made her Hindi film debut in 2024 with the Varun Dhawan-starrer “Baby John”. She is currently awaiting the release of her Hindi OTT series, “Akka”, which will debut on Netflix on October 30.
“I definitely wanted to enter Hindi at some point, and it happened eventually. So, this (‘Akka’) was the start, and then in between came ‘Baby John’, and then after that, I did a movie with Rajkummar Rao, it is called ‘Raftaar’. It should be released sometime soon,” Suresh told PTI in an interview.
“I’m not in a race. It’s not like, ‘I need to do a number of films’; I’m doing what I like. And eventually this happened. This is not something I was running towards. It’s something which fell in place. And now I (will) see how I can take it forward.”
Suresh said “Akka” director Dharmaraj Shetty approached her for the period crime thriller series after watching her performance in Tamil movie, “Saani Kaayidham”.
In the 2022 crime-action film, Suresh played the role of Pooni, a police constable whose life is upended by a brutal caste-based attack. She then goes out to seek revenge on her wrongdoers.
“Dharma (director) saw this film of mine called ‘Saani Kaayidham’, it’s a very bada** character, but vulnerable. I remember the first meeting…. He told me that he saw ‘Saani…’ and I was like, ‘Now, I know why you want me to do this character’,” the actor recalled.
Led by Suresh and Radhika Apte, the show is set in the 1980s in Pernuru, a fictional kingdom, where women take centerstage. The story follows Bhavani (Suresh) and Rudra (Apte), two formidable women whose differing perspectives and rivalries shape the power dynamics of the kingdom.
“It is not just about two women going against each other but an entire society, a matriarchal society, something very different, a unique world. To be a part of this world, I thought that is going to be something very challenging. It needs a nice add-on to the list of characters that I have done,” Suresh said, crediting Shetty for doing extensive research on the show and her character.
The actor said working with Apte was a great experience as she had enjoyed her work in films such as “Andhadhun”, “Badlapur” and “Kabali”, as well as the OTT series “Sacred Games”.
Her latest release “Dorothy” has earned acclaim for exploring LGBTQ themes. Suresh said she was elated with the acclaim “Dorothy” received from across the globe.
“We went to TIFF and we had a lot of other (accolades). More than everything, it was a rewarding experience that people accepted the film, and that it’s been a change making cinema. So, I’m very happy that I got to be part of it.”
On a query whether the portrayal of women differs across Hindi and South language movies, Suresh said she did “not see a clear distinction”. She said women’s portrayal has undergone major change in cinema everywhere.
“I started off with all hero, male-driven films, and you have very little space in those films,” she said, she needed just one opportunity to prove her merit and that happened with her National award-winning performance in “Mahanati”, a biopic on actor Savitri.
“We’re seeing a lot of nice characters, nice movies everywhere. So, I’m not able to differentiate. It’s not something like, ‘In Tamil we’ve this’ or ‘In Malayalam we have this’. But in general, we’ve stepped up a lot.”
“Akka” boasts of a talented ensemble such as Tanvi Azmi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Anshuman Pushkar, and Monica Panwar, amongst others.
It is produced by YRF Entertainment. (PTI)
