First of Many: Sudhaa Chandran revisits Mayuri

On the occasion of Kaahin Kissii Roz completing 35 years sometime back, Chandran got candid about how she landed her first project Mayuri where she faced the camera with some of the veterans of Telugu cinema.

On landing Mayuri

I was 16-17 and just entered college. There were no auditions at that time. Directors and producers took the ultimate call. I really don’t know why actors of 35 years experience have to go through auditions today, which is stupid.

Ramoji Rao heard of me when I started dancing with an artificial limb. He always made very different films, so he wanted to make one on my life story. They initially called me not with the intention of casting me, but to hear my first-hand narration and experience. They wanted to use a popular Telugu heroine for the film. Director Srinivasa Rao felt it should be made with me instead. That was a shocker for me! I always thought the industry was not a safe place for the women, which was a wrong thinking. I discussed it with my family. My father wanted me to do it as it was not just entertainment but an inspirational movie. Even my friends forced me to do it as they wanted to see my posters all over Andhra and Mumbai.

Mayuri was dubbed in Malayalam and Tamil as Mayoori and remade in Hindi as Naache Mayuri (1986) starring Sudhaa Chandran only. (Photo: Express Archives)

On her first day on set

I’m a Tamilian and Telugu was a new language. Ramoji Rao, the owner of the Ramoji Film City, was the producer. When I landed in Hyderabad, I didn’t know what acting and filmmaking was. All I wanted to know from the director was if they’d finish it in 15 days as I was missing my friends in Mumbai. I was even crying. So, if you see my first scene shot in Mayuri, you’ll find that glitter in my eyes because I was very upset. The director told me if I’m not happy working for two days, they’ll send me back. That’s how I started shooting.

On the first day, my mother woke me up at four in the morning. The makeup man did simple makeup. The hair dressed told me I need to wear a wig. I thought I looked very pretty even with that little makeup. They said I can wear any salwaar kameez and just come. We were shooting at the Banjara Hills. It was a bungalow that belonged to Ramoji Rao sir. My first interaction was with three icons – Mr. PL Narayana, Y Vijaya and Nirmalamma. I was fortunate enough to share screen space with three veterans at one time.

On shooting her first scene 

In the scene, I come down and say I’m going to college. I pick up my bag. My stepmother in the movie is very superstitious. My brother sneezes or something and she says now I can’t go to college. They kept an easy scene because they wanted me to understand what acting was about. But I was never nervous about anything. I was from the stage so I never had any fear.

Sudhaa Chandran with Nirmalamma in a still from Mayuri. (Photo: Express Archives)

On her best memory from Mayuri

The journey has been so beautiful, from being gawky to becoming a professional. This is something I want to relive it again.

On her rapport with the cast and crew after the film released

When I came back to do a Telugu serial after 35 years, look at my fate, I started shooting at Ramoji Film City. Whenever I come to Hyderabad, I make it a point to meet Ramoji Rao sir. And it’s always a big thank you because today whatever I’ve achieved, the foundation was laid by him. I seek his blessings and thank him for all that he gave me.

Also Read | First of Many: Gajraj Rao | Vivek Oberoi | Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub | Rajpal Yadav | Rajeev Khandelwal | Govind Namdev | Neena Gupta | Pankaj Tripathi | Satish Kaushik | Mohit Raina | Shahid Kapoor | Anang Desai | Jimmy Sheirgill | Tabu | Harsh Chhaya | Gaurav Gera | Saurabh Shukla | Deepak Dobriyal | Seema Pahwa | Annup Sonii | Sayantani Ghosh | Annu Kapoor | Ajay Devgn | Vishal Malhotra | Rahul Khanna | Ashutosh Rana | Jaaved Jaaferi | Ashwath Bhatt | Varun Badola | Renuka Shahane | Taapsee Pannu | Manoj Bajpayee | Milind Soman | Rajkummar Rao | Akhilendra Mishra | Rohit Roy | Suchitra Pillai | Gulshan Grover | Abhay Deol | Ashwini Kalsekar | Adil Hussain | Shweta Tiwari | Purab Kohli | Mita Vasisht | Vipin Sharma | Divya Dutta | Jaideep Ahlawat | Archana Puran Singh | Daya Shankar Pandey | Hina Khan | Rajesh Tailang | Urvashi Dholakia | Manish Chaudhari | Sheeba Chadha | Karanvir Bohra | Bhairavi Raichura | Pratik Gandhi | Konkona Sen Sharma | Gurmeet Choudhary | Lakshmi Manchu | Zakir Hussain | Nimrat Kaur | Hiten Tejwani | Ayesha Raza Mishra | Ali Fazal | Riya Sen | Rakesh Bedi | Samir Kochhar | Shekhar Suman | Piyush Mishra | Neelu Vaghela | Sumeet Vyas | Ayub Khan | Cyrus Sahukar | Vindu Dara Singh | Karan Singh Grover | Amrita Puri | Arjun Mathur | Natasha Rastogi | Yashpal Sharma | Rimi Sen | Vaishnavi MacDonald | Arjun Bijlani | Kritika Karma | Vikas Kumar | Delnaaz Irani | Sharib Hashmi | Jugal Hansraj | Sanjay Mishra | Sushant Singh | Sarika Singh | Darshan Kumaar | Manoj Pahwa | Sharad Kelkar | Shenaz Treasury | Khurshed Lawyer 

On her love for cinema

I was a hardcore Hindi film buff. My weekends were only for films. I used to go with my dad and mom and watch every film in town. The only English films that I’ve probably seen are Gandhi, Saturday Night Fever and maybe The Towering Inferno. I was a great fan of Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini. I’ve seen even his flop films 15 times. I was such a fan, I wondered why they didn’t get married (laughs). For me they were the ultimate romantic pair. When I met Hema ji, I told her this. She gave a cute smile.