Exclusive! I hope that Detective Theekshna becomes a trendsetter: Priyanka Upendra

The actress is slated to take on her first-ever detective role in an as-yet-untitled Kannada film.

Priyanka Upendra

When it comes to popular detective characters in pop culture, it is more often than not, a man, like, for instance, Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. Even closer home, it’s names like Byomkesh Bakshi or even Shivaji Surathkal that come to mind. So, when Priyanka Upendra was offered the chance to play a detective, she jumped at it.

“Director Raghu, was an assistant director on my action film UgraAvatara, in which I play a cop. He had been narrating this story to me, which I found really nice and asked him to develop it into a full-fledged script. It has come out really well and we are planning to go on floors in October. Right now, we are just seeing how the pandemic pans out, because this will be an action film as well. It’s a stylish murder mystery, which is a new genre for me, so I am really excited to try my hand at it. Most importantly, if you look at the detective genre, it is filled with men. Yes, there maybe a Miss Marple or a Nancy Drew, but they are so few. I thought it would be nice if there is a female detective who is very smart, because women are very intuitive and intelligent. Most of these female detective or superhero characters have been in English, so bringing Detective Teekshna to Kannada would be novel for our audiences. I hope the character becomes a trendsetter in Kannada cinema,” says Priyanka.

The icing on the cake, for the actress, is that if the first film is received well, the makers will try and make it into a franchise. “I am keeping my fingers crossed for that. There’s nothing wrong in hoping,” she says.

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