'Regional barriers disappearing in Indian film industry'

Jul 13, 2011 Ruchika Kher

Mumbai, July 14 (IANS) She is already a name to reckon with down south, but "Singham" is actress Kajal Aggarwal's first full-fledged Hindi movie. Comparing Bollywood and the southern Indian film industry, the 26-year-old says both are equally professional and regional barriers are slowly disappearing.

"The reach of Hindi cinema is larger, but the south is equally professional. In the south, they have very talented technicians like in Bollywood. Both industries have equally good artists, good scripts and good professionals," Kajal told IANS in an interview.

"I feel, just like Bollywood, southern films are also reaching a lot of places...the movies are going beyond boundaries. Regional barriers are slowly and steadily disappearing which is a very good thing," she added.

"Singham", a remake of the successful 2010 Tamil film by the same name, is scheduled for a July 22 release.

After the exchange of actors and directors between the two industries, the technicians have also started looking for work in both the worlds of cinema, which are very prolific.

"One more very good trend that I have noticed lately is that a lot of technicians are being shared pan-India. A lot of technicians from the south are working in Bollywood and vice versa. Directors of photography, choreographers, etc - all are working in both the industries," she added.

Kajal, who did a cameo role in the 2004 Hindi film "Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na", has featured in 21 southern movies in four years. She majorly worked in Telugu movies and did a couple of Tamil films as well. Some of her hits are "Chandamama" "Magadheera", "Darling", "Brindaavanam" and "Mr. Perfect".

Kajal calls "Singham" her debut Hindi film, in which she plays a girl-next-door and is paired with Ajay Devgn.

Is she ready to go glam for her future Bollywood ventures?

"The south is glamorous, Bollywood is more glamorous. But I think they still have their reservations about certain things. No offence to anyone who believes in portraying certain characters, but I do have my reservations about certain things," she said.

"I do believe in one thing that you can be glamorous wearing a sari or a full sleeves t-shirt and jeans; you don't really have to show skin to look glamorous. I'don't have a problem with looking hot or sexy, but skin show to a limit," she added.

She said it was a "fabulous opportunity" to work with a senior actor like Ajay.

"I've always admired his films and his craft on screen. Despite being such a big star, he is very grounded, down to earth, humble and as a co-star very professional, encouraging, supportive and cooperative," she said.

"He rehearsed a lot with me. He doesn't need rehearsals, he is very impromptu but for my sake he did that. When it came to acting, he gave me a very important tip - I naturally speak very fast; so he told me that I need to slow down," she added.

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