Epic film set in the period of the Kakatiya dynasty.
By Dileep Thekkethil
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Anushka Shetty is hoping that audience would receive her upcoming movie, “Rudhramadevi†with the same emotion and excitement she felt while hearing the story the first time. The actress was so moved by the story that she committed to become the warrior queen.
Rudhramadevi, directed by Gunasekar, is scheduled for release this Friday.
Anushka was quoted by IANS, saying, “What really drew me to the project was the emotional turmoil Rudhramadevi went through as a woman. It was so intense. She still ruled with compassion, cared for her people and kingdom more than her own life.â€
The epic movie, which has its time set during the rule of the Kakatiya dynasty, portrays the story of the brave warrior queen Rudhramadevi, about whom not much material evidence is available. Anushka, who plays Rudhramadevi in the movie, had a very limited reference which made her to completely rely on the director to play her role.
“This is Gunasekar’s story, so I chose to see it from his point view. I trusted his vision and blindly followed his lead. My character was developed based on research, including discussions with several historians,” she said.
Anushka also added, “Even though there was very limited information available, what Gunasekar had gathered to write the story, was very impressive.†Anushka went through two months of intense training session for her role.
“I had to learn sword fighting, horse riding and was also required to ride an elephant. We have a lot of scenes on an elephant in the film and through the course of the shoot; I developed a wonderful bond with an elephant called Lakshmi. It was so much fun shooting,” she said.
Like all other historic movies, Rudhramadevi has used different possibilities of VFX as the creative team spent months recreating the Kakatiya dynasty on computers.
“We had to rely a lot on VFX. Gunasekar and art director Thota Tharani spent months in Warangal studying the remains of Kakatiya dynasty. Hundreds of sketches were made and that were late recreated with the help of sets and VFX,” said the 33-year old actress who is yet to find the love of her life..
“I’m busy for the next four years. I wish someone can find me a guy. I want to settle down but not soon,” she said.
Anushka’s upcoming projects include the third part of the Singam franchise in which she will be seen opposite to Tamil hero Surya.
Talking about the movie Anushka said, “It always feels nice to be associated with a team you share a great bond with. When we worked for the first time, we never expected the film to become such a popular franchise, which has now become a brand. So, reuniting with the same team feels special.â€
The actress was also excited to talk about her Tamil-Telugu bilingual movie “Size Zero”, for which she had to do a complete physical makeover so as to play an obese woman.
“I’m really proud of this project. I was so excited when I heard the script; I immediately grabbed the opportunity without even realizing that I was required to gain about 20 kg,” she said.
She also took the opportunity to ridicule and brush aside the rumors surrounding her and South India actor Arya, which has been doing rounds for the past few months
Before she concluded the Baahubali-actress said, “It’s not just Arya. I’m linked with every actor I’ve worked with so far. I’ve stopped taking such rumors seriously.â€