For a girl who had no idea about how to go about getting a role in a film, Deepti Sati has found herself an enviable debut—a Lal Jose film – Nee Na . It was serendipity, says the former Miss Kerala (2014).
“I have always wanted to act but had no idea how to go about it,” she says over phone from Mumbai where she is based. Lal Jose was looking for a new face for his film and a photographer, her acquaintance, offered to send her photos to Lal Jose. “I was more than happy and even my mother, Madhuri Sati, told me to go ahead.” A look test later, she landed her debut role as Neena in Nee Na , a film about two women, Neena and Nalini. Ann Augustine essays Nalini’s role. “It’s an emotional drama”, is all she’ll reveal about the film due for release on May 9.
Deepti, part Malayali-part Pahari (Himachal Pradesh), has lived in Mumbai and her visits to Kochi, to spend time with her maternal grandparents were heronly contact with Kerala. Her Malayalam is not too fluent, “but I am picking up fast. Since I began working on Nee Na my Malayalam has improved. Listening to it and speaking for almost 41 days has made a difference to my Malayalam and my mother is very excited about it,” speaking in Malayalam to emphasise the point.
Her modelling dreams brought her to Kochi to participate in the Miss Kerala contest last year which she went on to win. She followed it up with the Miss India contest at which she was among the top five contestants and was adjudged Miss Talent. She went on to do some modelling after that.
‘Creatively-inclined’, as she calls herself, she is a trained classical dancer (Kathak and Bharathanatyam) and is learning classical music. Theatre sustained and nurtured her acting dream; she says she performed in plays staged by the Prithvi Theatre. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
While her Facebook profile shows Deepti with almost waist-length hair, the promo shots show her sporting extremely short hair and dressed like a biker. “I used to have waist-length hair but Lal sir got me to chop it off in order to keep with the look of my character. I am a biker in the film, someone who follows her heart – versatile and uninhibited. I am a bit like her.” As she excitedly looks forward to the release day, she says she is happy to have got the break with Lal Jose and a complex character like Neena for her first film.
Superficially modelling and acting might seem to be two sides of a coin, but, she accepts, there is a world of difference between the two. “A month’s training and a model is ready to participate in a pageant, acting is completely different. I had to shed the beauty pageant training for acting which has to be free flowing.”
She hasn’t committed to other projects, although she has ‘looked’ at a couple of scripts. She wants to suss the response to her performance in the film, her role, she says, is very different and very bold. “I want to see if I am accepted and then take it from there. I’ll get an idea of where I stand but as an actor I want to do different stuff and Nee Na has been challenging.”
Published - April 26, 2015 08:58 pm IST
