Exclusive! Drishyam 2 actor Shriya Saran: Good thing about pan-India is that people know what language is spoken where

Shriya Saran has been acting in movies for 20 years. During that time, she has starred in movies in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, English, and Malayalam. In today's times, the word "pan-India" has been used extensively, but she is among the actors who have worked in several languages and made a mark in each of the industries. Ahead of the release of Drishyam 2, Shriya was asked about this whole blown-up discussion on pan-Indian films.

The actor exclusively told OTTplay, "Well, I think one good thing about pan-India is that people know what language is spoken where. Itna toh malum pad gaya, and Indian cinema is now known as Indian cinema."

Shriya is a Delhi girl, and recalling her journey as an actor, she further shared, "When I first took a flight to go to Hyderabad, I was in college, and it was my first flight ever. I come from a simple, middle-class family. I remember landing in Hyderabad and going for my audition. I met people and realised it was so beautiful that we were in our country."

The Awarapan actor added, "Then, of course, I travelled a lot by train for work and shooting because, back in the day, a lot of places were not connected by flight. I realised it's a beautiful country because you have so many languages; you take one flight, and the whole food pattern changes, the sense of humour changes, the language changes, the script changes—everything changes. But one thing that remains the same is that we all are a part of one country. They all say we have one Indian Standard Time, and it doesn't matter what time the sun is setting."

Shriya also stated that one should stop distinguishing between industries and simply call it Indian cinema. The 40-year-old actor stated, "It doesn't matter where you go, but the fact is we are one India, whatever happens. It's something that as writers as journalists, we have to be very mindful of not to call it Tollywood or Mollywood, call it like Indian cinema."

The actor concluded by talking about how one should go beyond languages when it comes to content. "I think COVID gave us something good; it really emphasised good content, good acting, and good directors, and it's great. It doesn't matter which language is important. It is something that brings people together, and it also shouldn't discriminate between people. You have to go beyond and see something else that brings us together," said Shriya.