I will not leave my South films for a Hindi film. I want to be sincere to my South film makers and commitments. Only if my dates are not clashing with any of my South films will I do Hindi films.
Until we got married, Radha didn't utter a word of English and now she won't speak Hindi. Her Hindi's pretty good actually - she learnt it while watching Hindi movies.
The two Hindi movies that I did were not marketed well, and so not many people came to watch the film, hence the audience doesn't know much about me. I am a newcomer, and I cannot sell a film on my own. There has to be a backing in terms of producers.
Somehow I feel South Indian actors are not that well known in the Hindi belt. Tamil and Telugu actors have an upper hand. But Kannada and Kerala are totally sidelined by Hindi filmgoers.
Having done movies in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi, I have been accepted both in North and down South. I don't believe in divisions. I like to believe that I am working in the Indian film industry.
The way cinema has grown I think, doesn't matter if its Hindi or South. People watch all languages.
The great thing about writing for a younger audience is that they will give it to you straight with their responses. They'll tell you exactly what they liked and didn't like, and when they're enthusiastic, they're unashamedly enthusiastic. They'll talk to you about your characters as if they were real people, which is wonderful.
When I did my first Hindi film, 'Sargam,' I had to play a dumb girl. Critics went to town saying that since I was a south Indian and didn't know how to speak Hindi, producers of the movie decided to make me play dumb.
The main advantage Sridevi and I had was that we acted in films which were South remakes. What we had done in the South, we did the same in Hindi.
I find it terribly distracting in movies when people do accents, I must say, unless it's terribly serious and the story is rooted in South Africa and you're doing a South African accent. But in period movies I think nothing can be more distracting than people doing accents.
Among the various vernaculars that are spoken in different parts of India, there is one that stands out strongly from the rest, as that which is most widely known. It is Hindi. A man who knows Hindi can travel over India and find everywhere Hindi-speaking people.
There's something so free about being a fan and being enthusiastic about stuff - you attract all the other people who are also loving and enthusiastic when you're sending out signals of love. When you start to communicate cynicism and hatred, it leads you down a completely different path.
We will go to every part of Tamil Nadu and tell the people that Hindi is coming and that it is like a thunder strike on the heads of Tamil and Dravidian people.... If Hindi were to become the official language of India, Hindi-speaking people will govern us. We will be treated like third rate citizens
I do get a lot of comments, messages and whenever people meet me, they say 'I know you are working in the south but we miss you in Hindi.'
I stopped reading reviews about my own movies. I read stuff about other people's movies.
Of course you cannot compare my Hindi with a Hindi-speaking person, but I am confident enough to hold a conversation in mixed Hindi-English.