Exclusive! Chaithra Achar – I never thought Sapta Sagaradaache Ello’s Surabhi would get so much love

In the days before the release of Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side B, when Chaithra J Achar began promoting the film, without giving away too much about her role as Surabhi, and the dynamic between her and leading man Rakshit Shetty’s Manu, audiences who were invested in the Manu and Priya (Rukmini Vasanth) relationship saw her as the third wheel. At the time, she could not provide much context and address this, but with the film in theatres in its third week, she can. How has the response been to her character after the film came out? “Honestly, I never thought that Surabhi would get so much love and sympathy. Everyone wanted to see more of her story with Manu,” she says.

Chaithra J Achar on Sapta Sagaradaache Ello: Rakshit is not a hero who wants the story to revolve around him 

Since director Hemanth M Rao’s story was always about Manu and Priya, to the viewers, it did come across that Surabhi got the raw end of the stick. Also, the way her character goes from ‘I don’t care about your past’ to ‘I care so deeply’ was not well established. “There wasn’t much time to establish the relationship between Manu and Surabhi or to even help audiences understand her better. When I watched the film, Surabhi’s arc did not affect my viewing experience. I was fine with it. Perhaps, if there was time, Hemanth could have added more, like, for instance, after Manu and Surabhi move in together, there could have been some montages to establish that they’ve spent quality time with each other. I thought it would be understood that they’ve been together for a while and since they already had a good rapport with each other, Surabhi would, at some point, get possessive about Manu. Surabhi was under the impression that Manu’s relationship with Priya was a done deal, and since he was also showing interest in her, that he was hers for the take. When she then finds out that everything’s always been about Priya it hits her hard,” Chaithra explains, adding that she enjoyed every moment of being a part of the film and the love that’s been coming her way since its release.

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The actress, though, has been busy with her films Toby and Sapta Sagaradaache Ello for a while. “I worked on these two films almost simultaneously and then got thrown headlong into the promotions of Toby, first for the Kannada version and later for the Malayalam one, after which the Sapta publicity began. I’ve had literally no time to sit back and enjoy the adulation I got, which is why I am looking at taking a breather. All of December I just want to chill and do nothing. In fact, I requested a film team that I am looking at collaborating with next to count me in from January next year. Every morning, after my regular routines, all I have been doing in the last few days is reading all the comments I have been getting on social media and responding to them. It’s some form of good therapy for me,” says Chaithra, adding that she has a few films lined up for release, but is not sure about their schedules. “There’s Blink and Happy Birthday to me, both of which are ready and censored and should be out in the first quarter of next year. Strawberry, I am not sure,” she tells us.