Kamakshi Bhaskarla is making steady inroads into Tollywood. While her debut film, Priyuralu was released recently, she will be playing the lead in Maa Vuri Polimera, and making cameo appearances in Most Eligible Bachelor and Rowdy Boys.
Maa Vuri Polimera, directed by Anil Vishwanath, is a rustic drama. “It revolves around black magic and people’s beliefs,” says Kamakshi, adding that she plays a homemaker. Since the film is set on the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border, she practised getting the Telangana accent right.
“I also had to sport a tanned look, apart from working on my body language since my character comes from a community of fisherfolk,” shares the star, who originally hails from Eluru town in Andhra Pradesh. “Pulling out the emotional sequences was a challenge,” she says. Revealing that she had to audition for all her parts, she said, “I earned every role, so there’s a sense of pride in whatever I do. ”
Kamakshi completed her MBBS in China and returned to India in 2016. However, mid-way through her course, she suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She took counselling and started watching inspiring videos. She was attracted to showbiz after watching some of the videos of Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen.
“I liked their speeches and was inspired by their work on how they empowered people and women in particular. I wanted to be an actor since then,” she says. Interestingly, Kamakshi was winner of a pageant show Miss Telangana in 2018, which boosted her confidence.
“Although I was a pageant winner, I had a lot of difficulty in convincing my parents to get into showbiz. So I had to look out for a job and move on. I worked in a private hospital as a doctor,” she shares.
However, her heart was in films and she couldn’t resist the pull of facing the cameras. In 2019, she started auditioning for films while working as a doctor. “During auditions, many people were surprised to know that I am a doctor,” she says.
Before entering films, Kamakshi, who is also a classical dancer, did theatre for a few months. “I wanted to understand the basics of acting and wanted to create my own identity. I felt theatre would help me open up my personality,” she says, adding that her MBBS education came in handy in understanding the psychology of the characters she plays.
