Aditi Rao Hydari credits director Mani Ratnam’s Bombay with having inspired her to become an actress. “I was a drama queen even then. And, when I saw Manisha Koirala in that white ghagra, I just knew it. I knew what I wanted to be.”
It’s only fitting that she gets to maker her Tamil debut with Mani Ratnam’s Kaatru Veliyidai. When Hydari landed the role, Manisha Koirala was one of the first people to congratulate her.“It was like everything in life had led to that moment. It’s the purity of that little girl’s wish, ” she quipped.
The 30-year-old actor told The Hindu: “If he asks me to jump off a cliff, I would do it happily. Nine-year-old me would be so proud.”
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Aditi feels that the language barrier proved to be a blessing in disguise as she could understand the character better with Mani Ratnam, himself. “I used to get goosebumps when I realised what certain lines, their layers, and even what the pauses meant. It hits you like a sucker punch,” she added.
Hydari also says that she has never felt as free as she did on the sets of Kaatru Veliyidai. “I could not move for the next 10 minutes, after I completed the movie. I missed feeling that free… feeling cared-for. I wanted to go back to that,” she signed off.
Kaatru Veliyadai is all set to hit the screens on April 7, 2017. The movie will be released in Telugu as Cheliya. The music has been composed by AR Rahman while the camera has been cranked by Ravi Varman.