Isha Koppikar Narang will soon be seen in Ram Gopal Varma's (RGV) upcoming production venture Dhahanam. The web series, which is directed by Agasthya Manju, will begin streaming on MX Player from April 14 onwards. The Free Press Journal caught up with Isha for an exclusive chat. Excerpts:
Tell us about Dhahanam. You are playing a cop in it, right?
Dhahanam is a very dark kind of revengeful drama situated in the most ultra-violent of the South. It’s basically the interpersonal relationships of the ganglords. I play the North Indian cop who is placed in this region. There’s a lot of bloodshed, a lot of drama and RGV at his best! It is spine chilling... that’s what it’s all about. They wanted to make it bilingual.
This is your debut in a Telugu series. You have done Telugu films in the past as well, so it’s a good time in Tollywood once again for you?
Yes. I am debuting in the Telugu web series space with Dhahanam, but it’s bilingual. Tollywood was always at its best films done in the South. My body of work was not seen, but now, they know. There is another multilingual movie I am doing, Ayalaan, which is in Tamil but will be dubbed in Telugu, Kannada and English. It’s science fiction. Well it’s got Rakul (Preet Singh), Sivakarthikeyan, Sharad (Kelkar) and me. It’s a huge Rs 100 crore project. We have just finished its shooting. It will take a lot of time for post-production.
You seem to be very well accepted down South...
I have always been welcomed in the South. At the beginning of my career gracefully, I feel my acting calibre got me work. I’m so glad my acting talent was appreciated the way it should have been in the South. I love and enjoy working in the South. I’m glad it’s recognised in our industry. Earlier, the technicians used to work here, and a lot of films from the South emulated the crux, or the subject was inspirational to our people. They used to get inspired and used to remake their films. But now South Indian films are recognised, and it’s really very nice. I feel good about it.
How do you look at your professional journey with RGV?
Because of him, I got a claim to fame. When I saw my hoarding, I was very happy. I can never forget my mentor. He called me after 10 years and told me, ‘Isha, you don’t have to do it just because I have called you up, but you can look at it once’. I asked him to narrate it as I would love to work with him. When he narrated and also updated me, that it’s the region as the hero and everything will happen there, and that’s what the film is all about. ‘Don’t think about your role only but think in totality,’ he had said.
Go on...
The initial bit of the series is about my introduction rather than me being from the first frame to the last frame. And we have shot two seasons. The first season would just be my introduction. My narration is through my eyes what happened in that place. Then this character is woven into the entire plot. Through her journey, a lot of characters come in. It’s not Isha Koppikar Narang; there are many other characters in the series as well.
