Sreeleela: I said yes to Dhamaka within 10 minutes, there were no second thoughts at all

Dhamaka, the second film for Sreeleela in Telugu cinema, in which she’s paired opposite Ravi Teja, is just the push that the actress needed for her career at the right time, more so after a debut like Pelli SandaD. She has been enthusiastically promoting Dhamaka throughout this week and is having the time of her life, reaching to the public, interacting with the media while enjoying the limelight.

She knew the Dhamaka director Trinadha Rao Nakkina earlier; in fact, Sreeleela was first approached to play one of the leads in Ram Pothineni’s Hello Guru Prema Kosame, though the offer didn’t materialise owing to a few reasons. When the filmmaker approached him for Dhamaka, even before the release of Pelli SandAD, she okayed the project in 10 minutes. Dhamaka is a complete entertainer and I enjoy this genre a lot, she says.

Sreeleela is thankful to have got plum projects early in her career and considers herself blessed. While Pelli SandaD was a film largely filled with newcomers, she was slightly nervous before entering the sets of Dhamaka and even hesitated to talk to people. Ravi Teja was a great source of motivation, she mentions he made the atmosphere very comfortable for her. “I am a big fan of Ravi Teja garu myself and I watched Kick, Vikramarkudu many times. He makes acting look very easy.”

The actress compares the entertainment quotient of Dhamaka to Vikramarkudu and shares that the double role for Ravi Teja will be as memorable as the latter. “I don’t know if I matched upto Ravi Teja garu’s energy. I enjoyed working on the songs and I’ve been a dance enthusiast since childhood and learnt it professionally as well. I had a ball grooving to Jinthaak and What’s Happening in Dhamaka.”

During the shoot of Jinthaak, Sreeleela had lost her costume bag but the unit went out of the way to shop for her clothes and help her cause. “It was a very tense situation but it felt like my family was helping me out. It was a cute gesture.” The producers People Media Factory apparently gave her a lot of moral support through the shoot and treated her like one among their own.

In the trailer of Dhamaka, the makers hint that Sreeleela falls in love with both characters played by Ravi Teja. “I’ll be seen in the role of Pranavi in the film. While dealing with the double role, there’s a small confusion within the story. You need to watch the film to know how the love story unfolds.” She is working on Balakrishna’s next with director Anil Ravipudi, Boyapati Srinu’s untitled actioner with Ram Pothineni and a film each with Uppena star Panja Vaisshnav Tej, Kireeti Reddy and Nithiin.