Kavya Shastry in Aravind's telly debut

As one of the popular faces on Kannada television, she started her career as an anchor and host. Later, she went on to feature in half-a-dozen mega tele-serials. She returns to the Kannada small screen after a gap of two years with a special venture — Nandini. It also marks the debut for the versatile actor and filmmaker Ramesh Aravind as producer in a small screen production. Though Nandini was a number one tele-serial which ran for over two years with 600 plus episodes telecast in all South Indian languages, it came to its conclusion recently. Now, it is being continued in Kannada under Ramesh Aravind Productions.

Actress Kavya Shastry who also made an impression in movies joins Nandini as one of the new female leads. The show will be telecast on Udaya TV between Monday and Friday at 8.30 pm. She talks about her return, her aspirations and how community service is very close to her heart.

“It had been two years since I was a part of a Kannada serial. It is always a special feeling to work in Kannada, which is my mother tongue. Presently, I am acting in Mahalakshmi in Tamil, which is one of the top rated serials. In fact, when I was approached for the newer version of Nandini, I was sceptical. The serial is already well established with huge popularity and the characters played including Nithya Ram are known among the small screen audience across South India. I wanted to return to Kannada with a special venture and I was not sure about it until the day I finally started shooting for it,” says Kavya Shastry.

The continued version will even be dubbed in Telugu. Kavya plays the role of Devasena while Nithya Ram, the elder sister of actress Rachitha Ram returns in a new avatar as Janani.

Kavya who can fluently converse in all south Indian languages has been busy anchoring shows and TV programmes apart from her lead role in Mahalakshmi.
“One of the foremost reasons I eventually ended up doing Nandini was Ramesh Aravind Sir being behind it. He has ventured into production, and it was his team who convinced me about the role. It has been only a couple of episodes of the newer version but the kind of appreciation and response for my role has been really amazing,” she adds.

 Her debut movie was Yuga opposite Duniya  Vijay. She shares that she does not want to play the catalyst role and would seek something substantial in movies. “I am in no hurry nor do I fish for opportunities as I am happy and content with the kind of work I am busy with. I will certainly do movies but it should be of relevance and not just a mere presence on screen.”

Insofar as working with Nithya Ram goes, she says that the two have gelled well. “Though we both worked for the same television channel, we never had the opportunity to meet each other. Some thought there might be issues in ‘attitude’ but once we met and started working, we have been real good friends,” Kavya explains.

Kavya who actively participates in community service, even though she never talks or posts about her social activities feels it is something she loves to do as a responsible citizen. “After all, such activities make one feel human by lending a helping hand to others in times of distress like the recent one where I helped during the Coorg floods,” she signs off.