advertisement
The very svelte Raai Laxmi was not so svelte when she was doing films in the South.
“For my Hindi debut in Julie 2 I’ve lost seven-and-a-half kilos. For this reason I’ve lost films in the South. They’re saying I am too skinny now. But if I am to work in Bollywood I have to have bikini body, right?”
Right. That’s Raai Laxmi for you. Spunky and self-made, she has done approximately 60 films in the South.
In the South her popularity is so high that a recent film in Telugu, Balupu, even featured an entire song based on her.
Raai Laxmi, or Laxmi as her friends call her, has happily borne with the patriarchal system of working in the South film industry. “I’ve worked with the biggest legends of the South Indian film industry. Many of them were much older than me. In fact some of them are many generations ahead. Initially I’d be thrown off-balance by the way these superstars of Tamil and Telugu cinema are hero-worshipped. This reverence would be extended even to their treatment on the sets.”
Now Raai Laxmi brings her 12 years of experience in the South Indian film industry to Bollywood where she is being launched as a hero in Julie 2.
She laughs nervously. “It does feel like a responsibility when I am told I am the hero of Julie 2. And I do feel pressurised. But I know we’ve made a very powerful film about the struggles of a newcomer in the film industry.”
Laxmi has herself gone through some of her character’s struggles.
Did her 5-year relationship with MS Dhoni affect her career?
She says she met Dhoni because of her interest in sports. “I was a sports enthusiast from school, won many medals for games. And I wasn’t crazy about any one sport. I wasn’t a cricket fan as such. I was just a sports fanatic when I met Dhoni. One thing led to another, and here I am still answering questions about him when I have moved on. He has moved on.”
Laxmi seems unsure of how to deal with the Mumbai media. “In the South, journalists are my friends. I know them personally by name. I even know their wives. But in Mumbai I hardly know what media persons want and what the headlines are going to scream the next morning.”
Laxmi, who comes from family of three sisters, is no relationship right now. “I’ve realised it’s either a relationship or a career for me. I can’t have both. When I am in a relationship, I lose focus of my career. So I’d rather concentrate on my work. Love can wait.”
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)