Mannara Chopra, who plays the female lead in Puri Jagannadh’s Rogue is eagerly awaiting its release. “This is a big film for me and I’m excited because it’s a Puri Jagannadh film,” says Mannara, who plays a singer in the film. “I play a girl from a lower middle class family who helps her family by singing. Puri says that many of his films are dominated by the lead actor, but this time, he wrote a proper role for the female lead too,” she gushes.
Angela Krislinzki plays another female lead in the film and when asked if Mannara has any apprehensions about sharing screen space with another actress, she says, “I really don’t see whether there are two or three actresses in the film. What really matters is public opinion and reception of my character. I am not nervous about my screen space or the length of my role. Even if it’s a two minute role, my performance matters.”
Mannara is of the opinion that working with Puri Jagannadh is in itself a great achievement. “It’s a complete transformation for me as I didn’t wear any make-up. I had to look like a typical Telugu ammayi,” she explains. The film was to be released last year, but got delayed. “I started shooting for this film last January but demonetisation postponed the release. Puri sir wanted a good date as he was introducing a newcomer, and told us to wait. I now think the delay is for the good only,” she says.
The film is a Telugu-Kannada bilingual and each scene was shot twice, once in each language. “Every scene was shot twice, as the director wanted the lip sync to be perfect for both the languages. It was very difficult as I had to remember both the Kannada and Telugu lines. Luckily for me, Puri gave the script in advance, so I knew about my role and dialogues. I am passionate about my work, and managed well in both the languages. I also got help from the assistant directors,” shares the actress. “Though it was initially difficult, I have now picked up a bit of both the languages,” she adds.
Mannara is the cousin of renowned actress Priyanka Chopra, who’s now making waves in Hollywood. When asked if there was any chance that she would enter the Telugu film industry, Mannara reveals, “Yes, she is planning to do so soon.” She adds, “She wants to introduce new talent and I am working in her Telugu production. After all, it is my home production!”
When asked why she didn’t act in any Hindi film after Zid, Mannara says that she is now planning her next Bollywood outing. “The Hindi film released last November, after which I came to Hyderabad for my Telugu films. There was no time to do a Hindi film, but now I am planning one,” she says and adds, “I am getting a lot of offers even in Telugu, but I want to wait for this film’s release.”
