Fahadh and I watch ‘Ante Sundaraniki’ on First Day: Nazriya
Actress Nazriya Nazim discusses her Telugu debut, “Ante Sundaraniki,” and how she and her husband, Fahadh Faasil, are well aware of fame’s fickle nature.
Nazriya Nazim makes her Telugu film debut with Ante Sundaraniki, directed by Vivek Athreya and co-starring Nani. For the actor, who has previously performed in Malayalam and Tamil films, this is uncharted ground.
Nazriya mentions the coincidence of her husband Fahadh Faasil making his Telugu debut in Pushpa – The Rise, which is backed by the same production business, during this interview at the Mythri Movie Makers production office in Hyderabad: “I had made a commitment to Ante Sundaraniki a few months before Fahadh gave Pushpa his blessing.
Nazriya recalls hearing writer-director Vivek Athreya’s Tamil narrative via a Zoom call. “I was completely absorbed in the narration, and the film’s language became irrelevant to me in no time.” I was completely engrossed in the story. There’s a lot of humour, the characters are real, and below all of that enjoyment is a story told with a lot of heart. The interfaith marriage depicted in the trailers is simply one aspect of the story. It wasn’t until the end of the story that it dawned on me that I’d have to learn Telugu.”
“I drove Divya insane,” Nazriya said of her language coach, Divya, who is fluent in Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu. I wanted to be able to understand every Telugu word in context, including the tone. Comprehending simple terms like ala, ela, and ila took some time at first. I memorised not only my own but also everyone else’s lines before the film went into production. “Language was not a major problem for me when I went to shoot.”
On June 10, she hopes to watch Ante Sundaraniki with the audience in Hyderabad, and she notes that Fahadh, who is now working in Salem, Tamil Nadu, is also excited to see the film on opening day.
