Padmapriya acting in Tamil ‘Western’ movie

Quite different from the serious characters she gets to play in movies, popular actress Padmapriya is enacting a different role altogether that of a ’village belle’ in the Simbudevan directed Tamil ‘cowboy’ film – “Irumbukottai Murattu Singham.”

‘I play the role of a Marshal’s daughter in a village in this fantasy-action-cowboy movie,’ she said, a different genre from the ‘intense’ roles she usually gets to play in films.

‘The movie is an entertainer. It has everything -- action, comedy, eroticism,’ Padmapriya, much acclaimed for her critical roles in Tamil movies like ‘Pookisham’, ‘Satham Podathey’, ‘Thavamai Thavamirundhu’ and ‘Mirugam’, told PTI.

She even gets to fire a gun. It has a huge cast, each one having well defined roles, she said. ‘It has plots and sub-plots.’

Lakshmi Rai and Sandhya are the other two heroines.

Sandhya’s is a guest role but it is an integral part (to the movie) , she said.

Asked why it is being described as ‘fantasy-cowboy’ film, she said ‘nowhere in the world will you find a cowboy speaking in Tamil’. The movie has also been dubbed in Telugu.

The hero in the movie, slated for release next month, is popular choreographer, director and artiste Raghava Lawrence.

The film was shot in locations across the country, including Palakkad in Kerala and Tenkasi (Tamil Nadu).

Numerous sets were erected and in fact barring a song sequence featuring her and Raghava, shot abroad, everything was shot outdoors and set-centric, the actress said.

“We shot in Vietnam for the song scene.” Like all westerns, the movie has also the bad guys, the main one being Saikumar.

Priya, as she is popularly known, wants roles to be well-sketched out. In the Malayalam-Mammootty blockbuster ’Pazhassi Raja, she appeared in only nine scenes. But the role was well-defined, she said, and not just a mere prop.

Nazar too enacts a key role in “Irumbukottai…” slated for release next month, she said.

Her Telugu movie ‘Andari Bhanduvayya’ opposite Sharavanand is also due for release next month. The title means ’Everybody’s friend. It is a romantic-comedy, she said.

She is delighted that her first Bollywood movie’ Striker’ with Siddharth as hero was premiered on video sharing site, ’YouTube’,claimed to be the first Indian movie to be released overseas on the website.

‘Kuttyshrank’, the Malayalam movie directed by Shaji Karun , which has Mammootty in the lead role, is also slated for release next month.

She also has a Kannada movie, the Shivaraj Kumar starrer ’Thamassu’, due for release.