Mangalore hudugi on a ROLE

Petite, pretty and passionate about her work — Mangalore girl Manvitha Harish has every reason to be kicked about 2018. The radio jockey-turned-actor is not only the leading lady in Duniya Soori’s Tagaru, but also has Kanaka up for release soon. In this freewheeling chat, the actress gets candid about working with Century Star Shivarajkumar, her aspirations and more…

Talking about her role in Tagaru, she says, “I play a current generation girl who thinks life has no boundaries. All she wants is freedom, and music is her religion, she wants to hangout with friends, travel, meet new people and doesn’t want to be emotionally attached to anyone.”

Considering her character is like a hippy, Manvitha had to spend a lot of time on styling herself.

“My costumes have been designed by a 70-year-old Russian designer who’s settled in Goa. We encountered her when scouting for shooting locations there.

She’s someone who has inside stories of the hippy culture. I got to experiment with dark lipsticks and smoky eyes, and had to do everything I could to carry the character off,” adds Manvitha, who reveals that in real life, she’s someone who could get a bit crazy when she’s with her family and friends, but holds herself back when she ventures out with others.

She goes on to add that this is, in fact, one of her dream roles. “It’s not a run-of-the-mill character and I’m not just eye-candy in the film and no, the actor and actress are not running behind bushes to romance! Every actress would love to play this character,” she states.

Working with Shivanna was a learning experience for this youngster. “He is a very humble person. He is also 100 movies old, whereas I’m just one film old! He was really encouraging, honest, correcting my mistakes and helping me improvise on my lines, also teaching me acting techniques,” she shares.

Her other flick, which is set to hit screens early this year is Kanaka, in which she plays a medical student who falls in love with an autodriver played by Vijay. The actress also has Taarakasura in her kitty, which will release in March.

Having thoroughly enjoyed her life as an RJ, the actress admits that she immensely misses it. “I liked the job and enjoyed doing interviews etc. I love music and now, even though I’m not in the studio, I play loud music and often get yelled at by my neighbours!” she quips.

While she and her family have moved to Bengaluru, she does visit her hometown Mangalore once a year. “My mom loves going to temples, so I have to tag along with her!” says Manvitha, who loves dancing, hanging out with friends and going on long drives.

As for roles that she’d love to portray, she mentions Kangana Ranaut’s characters in Queen and Tanu Weds Manu. “I’d also like to play historical characters like Deepika Padukone does,” she adds.