It calls for a certain level of confidence to be unperturbed when the leading lady of your debut film hogs the limelight. But South Indian star Prithviraj, who makes his Bollywood entry with the romantic comedy Aiyyaa alongside established actress Rani Mukherjee, doesn’t get petty about it.
“Obviously! if you were a producer of a film where there’s Rani Mukherjee and a debutante, won’t you do the same? I am completely in touch with the reality here,” said Prithviraj in an interview with tabloid!. His hope?
“They will come for Rani and hopefully discover me too. It’s being marketed as a Rani Mukherjee film and it has to be marketed that way,” said Prithviraj. Don’t be fooled by his overt modesty.
In the Malayalam cinema of Kerala, 29-year-old Prithviraj is one of the highest-paid actors with tremendous box-office appeal. His Malayalam hits such as Indian Rupee, Classmates and Nandanam have helped him reign supreme in an industry monopolised by senior actors such as Mammootty and Mohanlal. For the first time in his career, the onus is not on him to carry a film to the finish line.
“Aiyyaa is a good movie and I found the concept refreshing. To have a love story in Bollywood in which a Maharashtrian girl falls in love with a Tamil boy in a Hindi film is as good as it gets. Plus, Aiyyaa has this wacky sense of humour. You won’t be disappointed.”
His diplomacy about his Bollywood debut comes as a pleasant surprise since this actor is known for speaking his mind. In the past, Prithviraj has dropped controversial remarks against matinee idols Mamootty and Mohanlal, who are revered in Kerala. So what brought this personality change?
“I don’t have a dual or a split personality. I am not good at pretensions and what you see is what you get.”
