Ever since she made her silver screen debut with Anurag Kashyap's Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), Sobhita Dhulipala's career has been consistently on the rise. Despite having been part of just 11 films and three series, Sobhita is widely recognised as one of the most promising actors in the country, with her performance in the new season of Made in Heaven being the latest example. Sobhita recently opened up about her experience working on Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan franchise, her biggest project to date, and discussed her approach to acting. Looking back, Sobhita remembered the time when she had to swiftly join the sets of Ponniyin Selvan in Hyderabad after filming for Dev Patel's Monkey Man in Indonesia. She recalled that the back-to-back shoots had left her without sleep for 48-50 hours. Despite her exhaustion, she ended up shooting an unplanned song sequence which, unfortunately, did not make it to the final cut of the film. "It was just meant to be a scene where I was there. I was already feeling very sulky about the fact that I had to be kind of written out of a couple of scenes, and it was full khichdi with my dates. I reached, and on the spot, while I am walking to the set from the vanity van, I was informed that there's a song and that I am dancing now," she said during an interview with Film Companion. Expressing her enthusiasm for the unexpected challenge, as the song was a significant collaboration involving tall figures like AR Rahman, choreographer Brinda Master, and Mani Ratnam, she also acknowledged that it turned out to be an incredibly demanding task, but she somehow managed to pull it off. "It was a wonderful opportunity, and I've always wanted to dance in films. But this was just. I didn't speak Tamil at that time. I was listening to the song the very first time while I was dancing, and it had a very complicated choreography. I hadn't slept and I was so nervous that I didn't eat. And the weather was so hot. This song didn't even make it to the film," Sobhita recalled. Mentioning that she encountered a similar experience during the filming of another song, Sobhita said: "I recall a moment when someone pointed out to Mani sir after the shoot that 'she's gone', to which he responded, 'They are actors. This is what they should do. They should be able to perform (on cue)'. Whether he actually has that expectation from actors or not, I don't know. However, as a filmmaker, it seemed that he benefitted by someone who was able to deliver. And that made me think that this attitude of mine has been helpful." "Actors are not artists, they are craftsmen. Artists are sculptors who mould out of nothing. they form and create, where imagination is involved. Actors are craftsmen like carpenters who have 20 wooden logs with which you have to create same-sized doors 20 times. In every take, you have to hit the mark and you have to cry at one particular point. You can't be like 'I am depleted'. It's your job," Sobhita mentioned, elaborating on her definition of actors. Sobhita is currently gearing up for the release of her first English project, Monkey Man. Helmed by Dev Patel, the actioner will have be released on Netflix.
