I am Shweta Basu Prasad. It’s my newly altered name with my mom’s surname included for this film (KBL). Prasad represents the lineage from my dad’s side. I was born in the Steel City of Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) and I came to Mumbai when I was three or four. My mom’s ancestry stretches to West Bengal. I can read and write Bengali. My dad is from Uttar Pradesh and later moved to Delhi. My dad has strong background in the Theatre. At the age of 11, I became a child artiste, making my debut with Makdi. It was written and directed by music composer Vishal Bharadwaj, starring Shabana Azmi as witch. I played the dual role in that film. It got me National Award (The Best Child Artiste) and I received it from the then President APJ Abdul Kalam. That time I was 12. At the age of 14, I did Iqbal, a Nagesh Kukunoor’s film produced by Subash Ghai film, entirely shot in and around Tenali. I did another film in Bengali with Mithun Chakravarthy. And this (KBL) is my first film as heroine. I will be turning 18 in January next year.
In fact, I never took any training for acting in films. Even during my childhood and schooldays too, I was not used to it. But, I felt the passion for films naturally. Working for Makdi, I didn’t pay much attention to learning. That time it was completely professional. To be relevant, I can say that I got the sense of preparation for the scenes from Shabana Azmi (in Makdi). It also helped me to tune my body language and down-to-earth adaptation to the situations. From Mithun Chakrabarty, I got the point as to how to get into the characterization. In KBL, I found working with senior artistes like Jayasudha, Brahmanandam and all. This made me catch the plus points and learn from the minus points. I have got great memory power. It’s my strength. See, working for a film like KBL with Telugu being completely alien to me, I had to work on a new horizon. I had to be quick in dialogue delivery. Ten minutes before the shoot of the scene, I was told the dialogues, which I had to enact live. Secondly, I have passion for work. I enjoy what I do. I am always used to work with agility. Studies is ever important to me, that too coming from a family wielding highly educated professionals in high posts… doctors, engineers, CAs. My parents don’t love me if I have no mind for education. Now, I am doing my 11th at a CBSE high school in Mumbai. I will continue and set to do B.Com. I concentrate on the present and plan for the future. I don’t necessarily study and do a job. To be an actress, I don’t need to have a degree as qualification. But, education is important to me. To be literate is a must. I know what I am doing. I am new, but got a very banner (production house). The script was real, fresh, though we have seen many love stories. I could work with senior artistes. Music and cinematography were fantastic. I had lots of experiences each day working with the KBL team. Actually, I am an outsider. The culture here is different to me. Each day, it was like a struggle to me with the language and culture… and I enjoyed all these. I got the National Award. More than that, I got an international award as the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Karachi Film Festival. I could do the dual role in Makdi. Though a staunch Hindu, I donned the role of a Muslim girl in Iqbal. I played role of mother less child in Bengali film. Now, in KBL, I did the role as Swapna, which is completely the opposite of mine in real life. Getting recognized as a child artiste and with a rising career, I say… I am greedy right now. I am greedy to do more difficult and challenging roles. I can do them only when I am at them. I don’t have a fan mail. Living in Mumbai, I don’t know much about the audience here. Now, with this KBL success, I got to know that I got much craze among the youth in Andhra Pradesh. I know, the audiences are the real judges. I am delighted and happy now. I have aplenty. But, I can’t disclose to you right now. There is a commitment in Bollywood in which I would be launched as heroine. Five big banners from Telugu film industry approached me after the release of KBL. Nothing has yet been committed to. Let me see.
Beautiful Tollywood Star Swetha Basu Parsad
Reviewed by Nazli Desi
on
9:33:00 AM
Rating: 5
i love dis girl
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