Abu Dhabi: The girl who winked her way to become an overnight internet sensation says youngsters have more means than winking to express their love.
“Now no one is doing it. That’s why it became a hit when it was done in real [in the movie],” Priya Prakash Varrier, who winked to her boyfriend in a teaser song of her upcoming movie and became an international celebrity, said during an interaction with schoolchildren in the capital.
She was responding to a question whether youngsters still wink, as they are more into social media to express themselves.
However, a romantic gesture like winking was in her blood, she said in lighter vein at the Indian Social and Cultural Centre (ISC) here on Saturday in the event organised by Medeor 24X7 Hospital.
Varrier and Roshan Abdul Rahoof, her co-star in the upcoming Malayalam film ‘Oru Adaar Love’, sang together the hit song ‘Manikya Malaraya’ for the audience. They also danced together to the tune of a Tamil film song.
She said Rahoof had a starting trouble in the film. “He was shy … and we didn’t talk [much] in the beginning. Now we talk a lot and we just keep talking!”
Asked about their interest in TV reality shows, she said: “We want to focus on our dream — acting. We are too young for that [reality shows].”
Rahoof said that he was born in Corniche Hospital in Abu Dhabi and spent his childhood in the capital until his family went back to India. “Abu Dhabi is a special place for me,” he said.
With Rahoof’s revelation, the audience immediately demanded Priya to reveal her birthplace and even the name of the hospital she was born. Her mother who accompanied her said she was born in Ramdas Hospital in Perinthalmanna town, Kerala.
- Priya Prakash Varrier | Actor
Speaking to Gulf News, Varrier said she had never seen anyone winking in real life. She said she wants to be a cosmopolitan artist who can adapt to all cultures of the world. “I don’t want to be a typical Malayalee [Keralite] girl!”
It was the first time she interacted with an audience after she rose to fame. “I did a lot of TV interviews and attended many events.”
The first-year BCom student at Vimala College in Thrissur said she was not able to attend regular classes because of her busy schedule.
However, she has been a bright student with 91 per cent score in Grade 10, 82 per cent in Grade 12. She has already scored 90 per cent in the first semester and wants to excel in her studies. “I would like to do MBA.”
However, it has been her childhood dream to become an actor and she will stick to it as a profession, she said.
Fame brings its own price
Priya Varrier disguises herself to go out with friends
Abu Dhabi: Celebrity status has brought its own challenges to Priya Prakash Varrier who winked to international fame.
She has not gone out for a while with her family and friends in her hometown, Thrissur, in south Indian state of Kerala, Preetha Prakash, her mother, told Gulf News in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
“Once she had to disguise herself to go out with her friends. But when a friend called her ‘Priya’ in public, people started gathering around her,” the mother said.
“Now we go out without her!” she said.
Prakash said people make a beeline to take selfies with Varrier wherever she goes.
