Baby | Vaishnavi Chaitanya: We had no intention to discriminate people on the basis of colour

After making her mark as a character artiste in a wide variety of roles in films, OTT shows and Youtube, Vaishnavi Chaitanya forays as a female lead with this week’s release Baby, directed by Sai Rajesh. Anand Deverakonda, Viraj Ashwin are paired opposite the actress in the romance triangle produced by SKN. In a chat with the media, Vaishnavi shares why this was an experience she’ll always cherish.

The actress feels that every performer is in quest of a role that showcases their true potential and believes she was lucky to have found Baby. I was in a trance, Sai Rajesh supported me throughout this journey like a rock, giving me confidence, Vaishnavi says. She is cast as a slum girl who leaves to the city to join a college and how that experience changes her life completely.

“My character meets people who affect her life positively and negatively and undergoes She a drastic transformation.We had no intention to discriminate people (based in basthis) on the basis of colour; it was our way to depict the transformation of her character,” she mentions. Vaishnavi resonated with the role and is hopeful that audiences feel the same in theatres too.

Vaishnavi asserts that music will play a crucial role in driving its story forward, crediting composer Vijay Bulganin for his songs and background score. Reportedly, director Sai Rajesh believed that debutants will be all the more motivated to prove themselves in Baby and his prediction rung true, she avers. The actress calls Baby a heartfelt, emotional love story.

“Baby focuses on situations and how the characters react to them and I don’t view them as hero or heroines. It’s the situations that play a significant role. With every promotional poster of Baby, we had a story to tell,” Vaishnavi states. She says the film has given her an avenue to prove all her odds wrong and recollected that her parents were left teary eyed at the teaser launch event.

When she was as young as 15, Vaishnavi wandered around film offices hunting for opportunities and had little money to pay for her expenses, borrowing money from friends, family and acquaintances. During auditions, many promised to call her back later but the dry spell continued. Opportunities such as Ala Vaikunthapurramloo, Valimai, Software Developer, Varudu Kaavalenu paved the way for her lead role in Baby.

She admits how she received a lot of negative feedback, where people mocked at Tiktok content creators turning heroines, but the confidence in her abilities helped her surge ahead. Vaishnavi is also trained in classical and western forms and her house is packed with trophies and medals that she received during childhood.

Expectedly enough, day one on the sets of Baby wasn’t easy and she was terrified; she remains grateful to her co-stars for helping her through that phase and practise well. She is yet to say yes to new projects and will take a call on offers post Baby’s release.