Ananya Raj puts on a brave face

Directed by Srinivas Raju, the crime thriller film has actor Naveen Chandra as the male lead and actors Ananya Raj and Divya Pillai playing the female leads.

Hyderabad: Bollywood actor Ananya Raj, who was last seen in the recently released film ‘Thaggedhe Le’, is excited to work on projects down South. Directed by Srinivas Raju, the crime thriller film has actor Naveen Chandra as the male lead and actors Ananya Raj and Divya Pillai playing the female leads.

Not only has the film received a good response, but even the lead actors have been appreciated for their performances.

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“It’s not a typical story and my character is very mysterious, and I think that’s why the audience is hooked,” says Ananya. “I had a tough time shooting in Telugu because the system down South is quite different. For instance, shooting schedules start here at 7 am, whereas in Mumbai we start at 10 am. Honestly, learning a new language and adapting to the atmosphere on the sets was rather difficult for me,” she added.

Ananya landed the project through a fluke audition that happened a few months ago, and she didn’t believe that she was officially signed for the film until the last minute. “My next is a trilingual film ‘Madrasi Gang’ that is based in Mumbai. We shot for 40 days, and I dubbed my dialogues in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. The film is set to release in February 2023,” shared Ananya, whose show ‘High Dose’ is set to release on OTT platforms soon.

A trained Kathak dancer, Ananya did a fair bit of modelling before she entered the film industry. Although she wanted to participate in beauty pageants six years ago, she was rejected due to the height criteria. As an 18-year-old low on confidence and her dreams crashed, she put on a brave face and instead began doing films. “I wish to do mythological films in the future because I am very old school,” shared the actor, who enjoys travelling whenever she gets the time.