Pooja Devariya, a popular name in the theatre circuit, rose to fame through her bold portrayal of Malar in Karthik Subbaraj’s Iraivi. Elated with the response for her character in the recently-released Kuttrame Thandanai, Pooja is now all ready to set foot in Hollywood — with two plays, My Name is Cinema, directed by Mathivanan Rajendran and Va Van Gogh, directed by Bhargav Prasad.
Speaking to DC, an excited Pooja says, “My character in My Name is Cinema represents cinema in general. This play is a subtle take on the fan-following of actors, and the passion for films. We have staged this play 49 times and we will hit a half-century by staging it at the ‘Short + Sweet’ festival in Hollywood. It was an amazing feeling, as the festival’s founder Mark Cleary saw our play in 2012 and opined that this play needed to go places.”
My Name is Cinema has won three awards each in the Best Actress, Best Production and Best Director categories at the ‘Short + Sweet’ festival held in Chennai, Malaysia, and Sydney.
“Va Van Gogh is a rather funny take on plagiarism. It is an honour to stage both these plays at the largest 10-minute theatre festival,” she adds. The Short + Sweet theatre festival commenced on September 8 and will go on until September 25 at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood.
