Proud of being part of Killing Veerappan

Parul Yadav has come a long way from her Govindaya Namaha days and has been steadily making inroads in Sandalwood by working with some of the best talent in the industry — be it Sudeep (Bachchan), Upendra (Uppi 2) or Shivarajkumar in her upcoming release, Killing Veerappan. As the Ram Gopal Varma-directorial gets set to hit theatres, the actress tells us why she took up the project, and what makes it special to her. Excerpts...The call…Killing Veerappan did not happen to me like any of my other films. I was back home in Mumbai when someone from the team of the film reached out to me that I was to expect a call from RGV in the next 10 minutes. I did not take it seriously. When the call came, he said that he was going to narrate the story to me. He added that he did not know how big a star I am in Sandalwood and that I could say no to him if I did not like it. I heard him out and then pretended that I could not hear him and hung up on him. I quickly checked if it was really RGV who had spoken to me, because normally you have to meet people and audition for roles; you don’t get roles when you are just sitting at home. Once I was convinced that it was really him, I returned the call and he told me the entire story. In the next 10 minutes I was on board for this project. There were three main reasons I considered while saying yes. First, this is an RGV film, second, it has Shivarajkumar in the lead and third, it is about a national issue — Veerappan — and had an amazing script with a topic that is so apt to be made into a film. The role… I play a real-life character, a girl-next-door who was randomly picked up by the STF to be a part of its operation to kill Veerappan. RGV had done eight years of extensive research for this film and told me that this girl was just 20 years old when she was chosen for this operation. I was quite amazed and wondered what must have gone through her head when she agreed to be a part of such a dangerous assignment, considering that she had no background with the force or even police, for that matter. It was an exciting role on many levels. I wore no makeup and was often in disguise in shabby clothes. In fact, I would refuse to see my scenes on the monitor even though my performance was being appreciated. I am known to play characters that balance glamour and performance, but this role will showcase a totally different side to me to Kannada audiences. This is a completely deglam, performance-oriented role. I have given my all to this film and am very proud of what I have done. It gives me a great inner satisfaction. This is one quality film that I will cherish forever. Preparation for the roleRGV had done so much homework that there was pretty much nothing left for us to do. I did ask him if I could see the person my character was based on, but he said it was not required. It’s not like Priyanka Chopra when she did Mary Kom and had to pick up a certain body language or get the look right, or for that matter Sandeep who played Veerappan and needed to mould himself. My role is a real character, but no media has seen or knows much about her. So there was no need to prepare in terms of a look or body language. I played her in the way I understood the character. On a personal level, though, I wanted to see who this person is, and, finally, RGV showed me a picture.RGV, the taskmaster…Before I started the film, everyone who had heard about it told me that I was in for a tough time because RGV is known to be a taskmaster. But on the set he was the complete opposite. He just prepped each of us a lot so that we came as our characters on set. He is very friendly and does not throw attitude around. In fact, he behaves with his junior artistes just as he would with the lead cast. He gives equal importance to everyone and there is no discrimination.Working with ShivarajkumarI have done about 18-19 movies, by which time you tend to think that you know everything about cinema. Then you come across someone like Shivarajkumar, who has done over 100 films, yet comes to the set and surrenders himself to the director. He was like a curious child, and that is a lesson to be learnt, that irrespective of how many films you have done, you have to be like a newcomer with a director.