Pooja Talks About Director Bala, Her Role in Paradesi and Her link up with Arya

21/08/2013

The lovable actress Pooja Umashankar almost vanished from Kollywood after an impeccable performance in Bala's Naan Kadavul. The actress is finally back after 4 years with Vidiyum Munn. In a recent interview to The Times of India the actress revealed some insights into her career and her sudden disappearance. Here are some excerpts from the interview

"After Naan Kadavul, I could have done anything that came my way and gotten away with it, but I took a conscious decision to wait till I get the right project And, I also got an offer to play a princess — the exact opposite to the beggar character in Naan Kadavul — in a Sri Lankan film, Kusa-Paba.

I don't mind these rumours that have come about me as they haven't harmed me. As long as they aren't defaming me, I'm not bothered about rumours. You know, they linked me up with Arya at one point of time, but those are things I can laugh about," 

"I had agreed to do the Paradesi film for Bala, but then, the FEFSI strike happened. The film was supposed to begin around March 2012, but because of the strike, it got postponed repeatedly. The film's shoot was supposed to end by June, but the strike went on till May. And I had to go to Australia for 15 days to attend special screenings of my Sri Lankan film. I had committed to it a year earlier, and couldn't let my producer out in the cold. At the same time, I couldn't ask Bala sir to wait for 15 more days as he had 150-200 junior artists ready to begin shoot. It wouldn't have been right. So, a week before the start of Paradesi, I went to Bala sir's office and cried. I was feeling very guilty as I had put him in a position where he was forced to find a girl at the last moment. But he was so sweet and told me, 'Pooja, your word is more important. You should go to Australia'."

"I got a call from Pushkar, my Oram Po director, informing me that one of his friends, a director well-known in the LA circuit, had a script that he wanted me to listen to. When Balaji Kumar pitched me the story, I liked it instantly. I told him, 'Don't look for anybody else. I'll come back to India and do the film.' I'm so glad I said that because I'm now proud of how the film has turned out,"