Being typecast at the start of my career was the last thing I wanted: Deepti Sati

It wasn’t a conventional heroine debut, when former Miss Kerala Deepti Sati chopped off her luscious hair to play the lead in director Lal Jose’s

NeeNa

in May 2015. While she has been missing from Mollywood for over two years, she is now back with almost five projects in her kitty. The actress talks to us on what kept her busy, exploring the rest of the South and more:


What led to a break in Mollywood after NeeNa?
I got many offers after the debut, but most of them weren’t different from the tomboyish Neena. The last thing I wanted was to get typecast, that too at the beginning of my career. So, I waited for a role with a difference to come up. I liked the part in the Kannada-Telugu bilingual Jaguar that was offered to me and took it up. The film, directed by Mahadev, had a long schedule and it released last year. I am quite happy that I signed it as the film introduced me to two new industries.
Also, my role in the film was a stark contrast to Neena. I played an extremely bubbly medical student, who was the love interest of its hero, Nikhil.


It was a bold role?
Well, as an actor, I am extremely passionate and don’t want to stop myself from exploring the length and breadth of the craft or facing new challenges boldly. Jaguar was a proper, commercial movie and extremely different from NeeNa, that’s why I decided to do it. Moreover, I was quite comfortable playing the glamorous role in the movie and enjoyed it as well. I was game to try everything and anyway, as an actor that is the idea – you should be able to mould yourself into anyone. Moreover, which girl doesn’t like to look great, dance and present herself in wonderful costumes? (laughs) I hope I get such different roles, again.


Tell us about working with Mammootty in the Syamdhar film
It is untitled as of now, and I play a cherubic IT professional, who is quite a ‘today’s girl.’ She is from Kochi and is also traditional in her own ways. My character’s arc figures in the story when she gets entangled with the life of the characters played by Mammootty and Asha Sharath.

Like anyone else, I was of course intimidated by both of them initially and had my set of fears but soon it gave way to warmth. He has helped me immensely, especially with the intonation of my dialogues. Being a foodie, he would often spot me munching on something or the other and made full use of it to pull my leg. ‘Every time I saw you for the past few days, your mouth was full,’ he would say.
What makes me happiest is that may be 10 years later, I can at least say that I worked with Mammootty sir in a film.


You are also working with

Dulquer

in Solo
I love being with this crew, which has a lot of people who speak Hindi. Being someone who was born and brought up in Mumbai, that’s what I am also comfortable with. The film, being a multi-lingual, paves my entry into the fourth South industry – Tamil – as well.

I play an army cadet in the film and it’s fun to carry off a completely different set of body language, for this movie. I am Dulquer’s friend in it and my character has the shades of Anushka Sharma’s in SRK’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan.


You tried quite an unconventional look in your first film. Are you going to try them out again in your upcoming films?
Yes, I have some variety of looks coming up. However, I am specifically told not to reveal anything about them, especially for the film Lavakusha, as it is a thriller. There will be a few different avatars of mine, which I enjoyed doing. I also have a comic thriller with debutant filmmaker Rajesh in the pipeline.