Exclusive! I’ve put all my eggs in one basket with KGF and invested 6 years in it, but it was worth it: Srinidhi Shetty

At the trailer launch of KGF: Chapter 2 in Bengaluru, all eyes of the guests present were on director Prashant Neel, lead actor Yash, and the new additions to the cast, Bollywood stars Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon. Namma hudugi Srinidhi Shetty was there too, but sadly, there was barely any attention on her. “I won’t blame them, because they’d seen me only for a fleeting few moments in KGF: Chapter 1 and perhaps assumed that my role in the second instalment is also going to be minimal,” reasons the actress.

In a quick telecon before jetting off with team KGF: Chapter 2 for promotions across the country, Srinidhi spoke to us about taking up KGF, before it became Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 and devoting six years to the project.

From the start, KGF was meant to be a big commercial entertainer, a genre of cinema that more often than not focuses on the hero. And yet, Miss Supranational 2016, Srinidhi Shetty chose to make her film debut with this film. The film was, eventually split into two parts, and the first had Srinidhi for barely five minutes.

In 2016, my idea was to only concentrate on the Miss Supranational pageant and get done with my related responsibilities. At the same time, I was offered KGF, which, back then, was not meant to be a two-part film; it was just KGF. Director Prashant Neel narrated the whole story, which was very beautiful. He did tell me that he’d only given me a breezy quick narration, but that he would present it beautifully and asked me not to worry about characterization. I had no reason to doubt that, because Prashant had done Ugramm prior to that and that had become like a cult film. As far as KGF was concerned, I knew my character arc- start, mid and end.

When the team started shooting, they realized that the scale of the film was so large that they had to split it into two parts and in doing so, my character had pretty much nothing to do in part 1. It was all about the introduction of the hero and the other characters. Eventually, my character, Reena, barely got five minutes, but Prashant assured me that I had nothing to worry, because this was also the case with even Achyuth (Kumar) sir’s role, among others. He reiterated that our characters would shape up better in part 2, and since I knew the story, I was okay to wait for my turn.

The wait, though, turned out to be well over three years and this can be a little frustrating, especially, since there was also a pandemic in between that we had no control over. Even in my family, there were questions about how long I would hold on to just the one project, KGF. Why I was not doing anything else? And that I was not getting any younger, etc., I faced the usual pressure and stress.

But I invested six years on this project; others who started out around the same time as I did would have probably done 10-12 films in this time span, especially actresses, because you have a shelf-life with maybe 10 years of peak career. I persevered through this waiting period with immense reserves of patience, but I must admit that even I had moments when I wondered if I was doing the right thing. Every time, I told myself, ‘Srinidhi, you know how well the final product has turned out to be, including your character’.

Besides the long waiting period, were there ever anxious moments because you were going ahead based on the trust that the team would live up to its promise of delivering what was narrated. Very often, you tend to hear actors say that they were narrated something, but that the final output turned out to be something else altogether.

Very true. But here, whatever was narrated to me in 2016 has remained the same throughout these years. What they have changed, is that they upped the scale of part 2 following the success of Chapter 1. So, today, it is grander, bigger, but the story is the same. They have not even included any new characters. If at all, there have been changes in casting options.

See, KGF1 itself took close to three years. I signed it in early 2016 and it released only by the end of 2018. I had decided back then that I would take up my next only after I am done and dusted with KGF. The team of the Tamil film Cobra approached me sometime in 2018-19 and I quite liked the story, so I took it up.

But after that I thought it was not fair to do anything else because Reena (my character in KGF) did not have much to do in KGF1; and that I should let KGF: Chapter 2 come out and have audiences see that and decide if I am even eligible to continue an acting profession. I know that I have put all my eggs in one basket, but I believe that it was worth it.

This is not a film that has been shot in the most glamorous locations… it is In KGF, amid a lot of dust, grime and smoke…

What happened is that in part 1, since my role was so limited, the locations that I shot at were the Mysuru Palace and some other nice ones. So, I didn’t have to go to the locations that the rest of the main cast had to shoot at… in Kolar, with the dust, etc. In fact, during the promotions of KGF1, when the rest of the team used to talk about the challenges of shooting in such conditions, I used to feel bad, because I had not experienced any of that. I was still the reigning Miss Supranational back then when they were shooting, so I was busy with the pageant tours and could not visit them on set.

In KGF: Chapter 2, since my character travels along with the narrative, I got the opportunity to go to all these locations and experience first-hand the challenges that come with shooting in such conditions. Prashant has a fascination for the black smoke emitted from burning tyres, so for the most part, we were shooting amid the blistering heat, dust and thick black smoke. Imagine inhaling all of that for 2-3 days continuously. But I was quite happy shooting, because this time around, Reena is there everywhere. So, I just enjoyed the whole process.

Does that mean that you have shared screen space with all these big stars then?

Well, that has to remain a mystery till the film releases in theatres on April 14. I am just glad I had the honour of being with these big stars. As a relative newbie, it was a treat to be in their presence. Every day was a learning experience. And this time, since I was free and not bound by other commitments, even when I did not have scenes, I would visit the set to watch all these legendary actors, like Sanjay Dutt sir, for instance, act.

Is Prashant really a terror on set?

I did not feel it, but he can be quite the terror, who will not let you go until he gets what he set out to achieve. For instance, in a frame, it is not just about the actors getting their lines and expressions right, it is about the tint of colour, lighting, etc. he is a perfectionist.

But then, since we all know that he is not like this off set, even when he yells at you during the shoot, you just shrug it off and go on to try and do what he needs.

Produced by Hombale Films, KGF: Chapter 2 releases in theatres world-wide on April 14