Exclusive! Lucky and fortunate that even after two decades, I’m getting interesting work: Priya Mani

The actress, who celebrates 20 years of showbiz in 2022, talks about the kind of roles she takes up now, playing mother, avoiding being typecast and more…

Priya Mani

Back from a quick refreshing trip to Dubai with her husband, Priya Mani is at home in Mumbai, rearing to resume work. “2022 is a special year for me, because I started my career in February 2002, which makes it two decades in films,” quips Priya. Congratulations are in order; twenty years is a long time to sustain in the industry. But will ‘two decades’ be seen as a sign that she’s ‘old’? “Well, I don’t think that matters to people in the industry anymore. Age is just a number. Today, your age is relevant only to the story/script and whether you are a fit for a certain character. I realize that I can’t vie for a role of a 16-year-old – it’s not impossible to try and look the part, but it’s also about how you accept yourself,” she says.

At this juncture in your career, has there been a change in the kind of roles coming to you, like, for instance, playing a mother?

There has obviously been a change in the way people approach me. First, they tell me about the genre, and in some cases, they then tell me that I have to play the mother of an eight-year-old kid or so. I have already played mother, whether it is in Grandmaster or Family Man, so, if the story is good and engaging enough, I will do it again. It doesn’t really bother me. As long as the script is good and audiences are accepting me in the role, there’s nothing wrong in it. But then, when I say a mother’s role, these are not the stereotypical ones played by veteran actresses. Nowadays, it is not just about the fact that the character is a mother, but more about how important it is to the story and the narrative. So, when someone approaches me with a role, I tell them to narrate the script and if I am convinced that it makes sense for the character to be a mother, then I will do it, else I won’t. Almost every other day, I am listening to 3-4 scripts and if there is something engaging, I am definitely saying yes and taking it forward.

What kind of roles are you looking for these days? Twenty years is a long time that you must have heard all permutations and combinations of character possibilities…

Luckily for me, there are some that are still very engaging. A lot of new directors are coming up with really interesting subjects, like, for instance, my upcoming Telugu OTT movie, Bhamakalapam, which is also coming out in Tamil, for which I have just finished dubbing. It is a thriller that follows a normal middle-class woman from a happy family. She is a Youtube influencer of sorts, who puts up videos of her cooking every day and then unwittingly gets involved in a particular situation. As she tries to get out of it, she gets entangled even further and the whole narrative has a tinge of dark comedy. I thought this was something interesting to do, which I had not done in the Telugu or Tamil market, and it was for this platform called aha, so I decided to do it. At the end of the day, everything is like a shot in the dark; you like it and go for it, and then either the audience takes a fancy to it or not. But we all sign up thinking it is a good project.

I can’t really pin-point, what I am looking for, because there are interesting stories out there. It could be a normal love story, woven in a different way, or, for instance, an investigative story, which, incidentally, I have been getting a lot of.

Talking of investigative stories, how difficult is it to try and not repeat oneself when similar kind of roles are offered?

Yes, there’s always the risk of repeating yourself – playing an investigative officer once or twice is fine, but after that it becomes more about how said cop is portrayed than the fact that you are doing a cop character. How are you going to place this character in your investigation? Is she an integral part of the investigation or can the narrative unfold without her? Those are the points that I look out for now. If I then find it interesting, I take it up.

Is there a game plan now or are you just taking each day as it comes?

It’s not really a game plan, but there is no hard and fast rule that once you have done something you have to keep doing it. Somewhere down the line, you have to make sure that you are not getting typecast, so, you take a break from a certain type of role and return to it only after, say, 2-3 other films. I wouldn’t want to do the same thing back-to-back. I don’t want to be projected in the same category of role, even if the approach to it is different.

Having said that, I must add that I am fortunate and lucky that I am still being considered for roles both up north and in the south. Just because I am a National Award winner, which was way back in 2006, doesn’t mean that I am on top of the world. I have said this before and I maintain it – I am still struggling; I am not sitting on a bed of roses. I say I am lucky and fortunate that I am getting good and decent work, and that people are not tired of seeing me. I am still being approached for good work, but I am not jumping at everything, because I need time to myself and for family too.

So, what’s happening workwise?

There’s Bhamakalapam on aha, which will be my next release. Then there’s Maidaan with Ajay Devgn sir, which should come out by mid-2022. Ajay sir is the coach and manager of the Indian national football team in the film and I play his wife. Virata Parvam with Rana Daggubati is also complete. He was quite keen for it to be a theatrical release, so that’s still being worked out. Family Man Season 3 will probably head into production around mid-2022. There are some other interesting projects that I have said yes to, but the formalities are yet to be worked out. Announcements should happen in some time. I should resume shooting for Quotation Gang in early February. Although the primary language is Tamil, this will be released as a pan-Indian film and has actors like Jackie Shroff and Sunny Leone also on board. Cyanide is yet to take off, as is Khaimara.

What about the untitled Atlee film that’s being attributed to you?

(Laughs) No comments.

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