Sonal Monteiro: I took up Maadeva because there is a purpose to the heroine; she’s not…

Panchatantra fame Sonal Monteiro has been an actress for about a decade, but she says that her upcoming release, Maadeva, is a film that she’s looking forward to eagerly. The actress, who is 11-12 films old in the Kannada industry says that it’s the most diverse and performance-oriented role she’s got to date. Sonal is paired with her Roberrt co-star Vinnod Prabhakar (Fighter , Navagraha ) in the film, an experience that was quite enriching, she says.

Sonal Monteiro: Not just the glam quotient in Maadeva

“In my career so far, I have always played the love interest/glamour quotient and would appear in a few songs and barely have an impact on the overall story progression. In Maadeva, for starters, I have a desi, slightly de-glam look and play a village belle, who is quite chirpy. She is bubbly and talks a lot, and in that sense, is a lot like how I am in real life. I have a few films lined up for release, but Maadeva is the one I am most eagerly waiting for,” said Sonal, during the B Ganapati podcast.

But what appealed to her the most is that when director Naveen Reddy narrated the story, she realized that the heroine’s character is not just there as a space-filler, and it wasn’t because Vinnod needed a romantic interest. The character, says Sonal, has a purpose in the larger scheme of things, which allowed her to showcase her range as a performer.

In the film, her character has multiple emotional arcs, including a mother-daughter bond, a love relationship, as well as the gamut of feelings a girl experiences when she is said, among other things. “I got a lot of screen space in Maadeva, which gave me the platform to show what I can do,” says Sonal, adding that she took up the film without a second thought.

And the best part was that Vinnod complemented Sonal step-by-step during the filming. “Naveen would explain what he was expecting, but Vinnod would also discuss what I could do to get the shot right. Similarly, I too could give him suggestions and he would plan a reaction based on what I would do. There was a lot of give and take, which enhanced the overall film,” she says.