Another actress from Mumbai is making her debut in the Telugu film industry. Digangana Suryavanshi is a popular Hindi soap actress and has also acted in three Hindi films. Now, she is all set to debut here with the film Hippi, in which she will be playing the leading lady opposite Karthikeya from RX100.
“I have always been enthusiastic about Telugu cinema. In fact, I have received offers earlier as well, but I’ve had to turn them down because the dates weren’t working out for me. I’m quite glad now, though, that I’m finally making my debut in the Telugu film industry with Hippi,” says Digangna.
She says that she started acting at a pretty young age. “I’ve acted in several serials, have participated in Bigg Boss and have also done three Hindi movies. Two of my films wherein I played the leading lady roles, FryDay and Jalebi, both released on the same day. This had never happened for any actress in Indian cinema until then. This was about when the makers of Hippi approached me with their offer and I accepted it,” says she.
Nothing in particular pulled Digangana into the South Indian film industry.
“This is one industry that is going to gain widespread recognition and everybody knows it. The call came in very suddenly after the release of the trailer of FryDay in October last year. We met and they finalised my role in one day, which seemed really quick. Soon after, I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely and talented Krishna Sir (director) and Thanu Sir (producer),” she says.
She added that she does not know much about the South Indian film industry. “I saw Karthikeya’s picture in the newspaper one day and on the same day, I received a call from about this project. Soon, I sealed the deal and that’s how my debut in Telugu commenced,” she reveals.
Although learning Telugu from scratch can be a challenge, actress Digangna found a way to make it happen.
“I did not want to mess up my dialogues on the sets, so I sat with the assistant directors for a week to understand my lines before I learned them,” she says.
The actress prefers to write when time permits. “I write a lot. Whether it’s a poem, a short story, or a novel, I like to put my ideas on paper whenever I have the time,” shares the actress.
Digangana believes that the only difference between South and Hindi film industries is the language. “Neither of the industries lacks anything or is superior to the other. The only difference, in this case, is the language. We understand Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, and Hindi, so all that I'm struggling with is the language because it’s new to me. The work culture is pretty much the same, honestly,” she says.
Digangna is still studying in Mumbai. “I’m still pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Arts. I appeared for my second-year exams while I was shooting Jalebi. I am currently in my third year of graduation,” she says.
