Exclusive! My debut in Telugu cinema is with a comedy, a first for me: Adhvithi Shetty

Adhvithi Shetty is in a happy space now – the young actress has a few Kannada films in hand and is currently in Hyderabad, where she has begun shooting for her Telugu cinema debut. Getting to this point, though, was far from easy, with the actress having had to face extreme lows not only as far as her showbiz career was concerned, but her mental state too.

One half of the ‘Ramachari’ twins, Adhvithi came to Bengaluru from Mangaluru to pursue a career in Human Resource Management and was not really aware about the Kannada film industry. “I’ve been a dancer and participated in multiple dance reality shows, but even then, films were not on agenda. But once I got into corporate job, the routine of a 9-5 job got a little monotonous. To get a break from that, I began taking up small modelling assignments. It was around this time that my sister and I were approached to be a part of Mr and Mrs Ramachari, which had Yash and Radhika Pandit in the lead,” says the actress. Mr and Mrs Ramachari was a blockbuster hit back then, but didn’t exactly open the floodgates as far as offers go for Adhvithi.

In the time since, the actress has done small roles in big films with established directors like PH Vishwanath and Soori. “Back then, I was a newbie and had no clue about how the industry functions and that’s why I did those roles. To be very honest, I did not get a lot of offers, which was tough for me. What I got, eventually, was an offer for a TV serial called Eradu Kanasu, in which I was the lead. I followed that up with the web series Bengaluru Queens,” she says, adding, “My next project was Girgitle, in which although I was the second lead, I had limited screen space. But I still did it.”

Kaarmoda Saridu and Fan then brought her to heroine status. “But even after Fan released, I did not have any offers in hand and I was really depressed that despite my hard work and persistent efforts I wasn’t getting anywhere. In fact, I got to a point that I thought that if I don’t get any new offers by the end of 2019, that I’d revisit television again. I had given myself a deadline and just before that was up, I got a call for Dheera Samrat, a film that I believe is the reason that I am still in the Kannada industry. After Dheera Samrat, which is currently in post-production, I got to be a part of IRavan with J Karthik, Cadburys with Dharma Kirthiraj, Sugar Factory with Darling Krishna, as well as a new film that will be announced soon,” says the actress.

Wht’s also exciting for Adhvithi is that she is kickstarting her journey in Telugu films. “I still can’t believe it, because in Kannada only I am still finding a firm foothold. This Telugu film that I have begun shooting for is a comedy called Mr Beggar, the tagline of which is ‘No Cash, Only PayTM’, in which I am paired with Sampoornesh Babu. The reason I chose to do this film is because it is in a genre that I have not had the fortune to be a part of yet. Also, the team is looking at releasing the film with a Kannada version as well. Comedy films are tough to do because it is difficult to make people laugh and that, I thought, would be a good challenge for me as an artiste. The characterization of my role is very interesting.,” she says.

Adhvithi is finally seeing the results of her hard work. “I have been in the industry for almost a decade, and it has not been easy. Getting recognized is no mean feat and today, if I have got an offer from Tollywood, it has to be because they found something in me. It makes me very happy,” she signs off.