Sai Pallavi feels overwhelmed

The actor speaks about 'Love Story', how cinema influences people, takeaways from Sekhar Kammula's directorial, and hospitality of Telugu people

Hyderabad: It’s no surprise if audiences mistake Sai Pallavi to be a Telangana girl. Sekhar Kammula’s ‘Fidaa’ is the best example of how she is owned by Telugu audiences. “Even while shooting for ‘Love Story’ in Pipri village near Armoor town in Nizamabad, the locals, children and elderly would come to me, enquire about my wedding, my movies and about my family back home,” says the actor, who feels “overwhelmed to be showered with such love and respect”.

“Even during the montage shoot, they taught me to extract turmeric from plants. While we from the city are work-driven, they shower selfless love. Last time, a weaver from Banswada gifted me a sari,” she adds.

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Only art

Sai Pallavi’s movie ‘Love Story’ is hitting screens this Friday. The actor says that her film is about small-town aspirations, the lead characters and their struggles are portrayed in a natural and fun manner.

“Love story doesn’t shout against inequalities or caste-gender discrimination, but it raises voice against such attitudes,” she says, adding that it doesn’t matter if more women work in a film project. “There’s no male-female divide. We, as a team, work and function towards making the script better. There’s only art. Sekhar Kammula’s movies are an extension of his personality and philosophy. The amount of deliverables are the same with men and women,” says Pallavi.

Chay is so cool

“As a co-actor, he would complement a lot. Because whenever we get an expression while shooting, if the other person gives a different expression, it elicits a different reaction from us. In that way, it was a healthy competition we both shared. Off the screen, he is cool and patient,” she adds.

Sai Pallavi believes that films do impact the society at large. “If a lot of people seek legitimacy for their behaviour and actions from what they see and learn from movies, they should also get influenced with good movies which raise important issues,”she says.

The actor plays Mounica in ‘Love Story, who faces gender discrimination. Fighting all odds, the actor meets her love interest Revanth, played by Naga Chaitanya, a fitness dance trainer. “Every woman has faced gender-based discrimination of some sort in her life. There is practically no woman who hasn’t been through it. Women are taken for granted. At least now, people are talking about these issues. It might take 100 years more to reform things.”

The actor is dead scared and nervous to shoot for dance numbers. Shooting ‘Love Story’, Pallavi had suffered from cramps due to cold weather conditions. “It was physically a challenge to perform during the chilling weather. Body should be warm for a dancer to perform the movements. It was quite difficult,” she adds.

Pallavi has back-to-back releases, including the Nani-starrer ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ and Rana Daggubati’s ‘Virata Parvam’.

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