Actress Sobhita Dhulipala, known for her debut performance in Anurag Kashyap's Raman Raghav 2.0, believes cinema is not a platform for competition.
"Cinema is not a place for competition. It's not a race, or an exam where everybody gets the same questions and whoever answers correctly is the best. It's not about you or me. It's about who can do more justice to a character," Dhulipala, winner of Miss Earth India 2013, told IANS.
Having been nominated in the Critics' Choice Best Performance category at the Cannes film festival for her performance in Raman Raghav 2.0, the 23-year-old believes in "organic" growth. "Fortunately, we have diverse audience and hence, there's scope for variety when it comes to films as well as characters. Those who like a certain film may not like some other film," she said.
The Cannes experience changed her perspective about cinema. "Even though I was aware that the film's plot revolves around Raman and Raghav, I was nominated in the Critics' Choice Best Performance category and that blew me away. What I understood is that people there are not judgmental. They don't isolate what is heroic or there is no idolism.
"When you're judged on your performance, what's the need to compete?"
In Raman Raghav 2.0, Dhulipala was paired with Vicky Kaushal. She played an unconventional role well, earning praise from both critics and audiences alike.
Explaining what fascinated her about the role, Dhulipala said: "What I like watching as an audience is what I love the most to do as an actor. This is one such character I could easily relate to and understand the world it belongs to.
"It's every actor's dream to work with Anurag Sir and share screen space with Vicky and Nawazuddin [Siddiqui] Sir. It was an opportunity I couldn't let go of. Moreover, when I auditioned for the role, I genuinely loved my character."
In the film, she played the Telugu-speaking character Smrutika Naidu. Dhulipala hails from a Telugu family from Visakhapatnam.
Has she thought of a career in the Telugu film industry then? "I moved to Mumbai after school. I've not had an interaction with Tollywood. But I would love to work in Telugu filmdom because at the end of the day, I'm a Telugu-speaking girl. I find it very comfortable to emote and express in my mother tongue," she said.
Much as she wants to be part of Telugu filmdom, she believes the industry isn't keen to hire Telugu-speaking actresses. "It's not true when people say there are no Telugu girls who want to be actresses. I think the industry is not looking for a Telugu girl. If they really want Telugu girls, shouldn't they be rooting for me first?"