Actor Suhasini Maniratnam — spouse of director Mani Ratnam and niece of Kamal Haasan — has shared the display screen with megastar Chiranjeevi in a number of movies, together with Manchu Pallaki (1982), Kirathakudu (1986), and Aradhana (1987). On the IFFI 2025 session titled The Luminary Icons: Inventive Bonds and Fierce Performances on November 21, the actor opened up about feeling intimidated by him early in her profession. She additionally revealed that Chiranjeevi had as soon as requested her to “do higher” throughout a scene, having solely recognized her as a cameraperson earlier than she turned an actor.
‘The movie set intimidated me’: Suhasini on her early years
Throughout a dialogue with Khushboo Sundar about what intimidates them on set, Suhasini recalled her early days working in massive studio environments.“One factor that intimidates me is the everyday movie set, the Vijaya Vauhini set. It was scary, as a result of they are saying silence and all people goes silent, you don’t know what to do. You type of overlook and also you develop into paralysed,” she mentioned.“I used to be a cinematographer and I didn’t know appearing — I learnt it slowly on the job.”
‘You’re the heroine, not a junior artist’: Chiranjeevi corrected her
Suhasini remembered a second from a Telugu movie the place she performed a barely comical position and had no dialogue in a scene involving six actors.“I used to be standing behind the chair, I had no dialogue. Each time someone mentioned one thing, I gave a response with out saying something,” she mentioned.The delicate reactions, nonetheless, caught Chiranjeevi’s consideration.“Immediately, Chiranjeevi checked out me and requested, ‘What are you doing?’ I mentioned, ‘Performing’. He mentioned, ‘You’re the heroine of the movie, you aren’t a junior artist’. As a result of normally, that is how the junior artists are taught — to react, not stand nonetheless. That’s what you be taught in industrial movies.”
When Chiranjeevi couldn’t digest that his former crew member was now his heroine
To elucidate the idea of a “double take” in appearing, Suhasini shared one other anecdote from her first Telugu movie.“I used to be imagined to be doing a rangoli. After which Chiranjeevi comes and stands, and I progressively have a look at him and say, ‘Oh, you might be watching me’,” she mentioned.She recalled how the actor struggled to regulate to her new place on display screen, “He noticed me as a digicam assistant for a earlier movie. And now, the lady behind the digicam was his heroine — he couldn’t even digest that. A woman who was placing reflector for him was his heroine, he even says that right now.”
‘I’m Kamal Haasan’s niece — you forgot that?’
Suhasini added with humour that her appearing pedigree shouldn’t have been underestimated.“Once we had been doing the rehearsal, he got here and mentioned in my ear, ‘You may’t out of the blue have a look at me, it’s a must to have a look at me casually and say one thing’. I mentioned, ‘I’m Kamal Haasan’s niece, you forgot that? I grew up with an actor in my home’.”She went on to carry out the scene naturally, which galvanized Chiranjeevi. “He mentioned, ‘Donga Pilla’, which suggests thief — he principally meant I do know my job. That’s a delayed response, which is part of double take,” she concluded.