Never made fans wonder why I was cast in a film: Regina Cassandra
Film director Sudheer Varma had decided to remake the popular South Korean action comedy film Midnight Runners in Telugu, and Saakini Daakini is now set to release in theatres on September 16.
Hyderabad: Remaking Hollywood movies may not be the greatest idea right now (case in point Laal Singh Chaddha), but the Indian audience will feast their eyes on anything related to Korean movies, K-dramas, and K-pop music. So, film director Sudheer Varma had decided to remake the popular South Korean action comedy film Midnight Runners in Telugu, and Saakini Daakini is now set to release in theatres on September 16.
“The original film had two male protagonists but the makers here chose to go with female protagonists,” shared Regina Cassandra, who stars in the movie along with Nivetha Thomas. “We’ve touched upon a unique subject of women’s egg harvesting racket, and the audience will witness a lot of comedy and action. Nivetha and I trained in Jujutsu and are doing all the action scenes ourselves. I have been given an action-packed climax fight for the first time in my career. The entire experience was exhilarating and fight master Venkat has proved it once again that he is a visionary when it comes to action choreography,” added Regina, who regularly does stand-up paddling, running, cycling, and exercising using monkey bars.
On working with Nivetha for the first time, Regina says she’s always “admired” her as an actor. “I feel she’s a very expressive actor and a treat to watch on the screen. Apart from being a ball of energy on the sets, she is also a thorough professional,” shared the Subramanyam For Sale actor.
While Regina is playing a police trainee in Saakini Daakini, she will be playing an archaeologist in Caarthick Raju’s upcoming Telugu film Nene Naa (Soorpanagai in Tamil). She also played a classical dancer in the web series Rocket Boys and a flight lieutenant in the TV series Shoorveer.
About being able to do meaningful roles instead of the routine damsel-in-distress characters that were once offered to female actors, Regina says, “I did my fair share of masala roles but I’ve always made sure that I have something to add to the film even if I was given five minutes of screen presence. In my entire career, I never made my fans wonder why I was cast in a film. I’m grateful that directors and writers are now confident that I can pull off any kind of role; it is what I wanted to achieve as an actor.”
On the film front, Regina also has Mareechika with Anupama Parameswaran. This is the third film she’s signed which has two female leads after Nene Naa with Akshara Gowda and Saakini Daakini with Nivetha. So, doesn’t Regina feel threatened? “In fact, I have signed another such movie and that itself answers the question. We have been talking about women empowerment for so long that I feel acting in and watching female-led films is the best kind of empowerment we can see right now,” said Regina, adding that “art and process” are what matter to her the most.
When Regina is not working, she loves “chilling on the couch” and doing “absolutely nothing” because of her otherwise busy film and travel schedules.
