Dancer Sandhya Raju bags the lead role in VK Prakash's thriller

Sandhya Raju is a known name in Kuchipudi circles.

The danseuse is now stepping into a new territory, cinema, with a Malayalam film! Sandhya will be seen in the lead role in

V K Prakash

's investigative thriller titled Careful. Ask her what made her take the big step and she says, 'The script of the movie. It was new and exciting, and completely different from whatever I have done before.' The dancer had earlier done a short film based on dance and a couple of theatre shows in Hyderabad, she says. 'But my character in the film had nothing to do with dance and that was why I found it exciting.'

While she isn't allowed to talk much about her role, Sandhya says that she will be playing a journalist. 'I can connect to my character because as an artiste, I am always curious to learn something new, while the journalist is always trying to uncover the truth.'
So how does it feel to step into the shoes of an actor? 'I consider myself an artiste, open to exploring all kinds of media ' theatre, dance, even choreography. I've always been looking for new and exciting means of expressing my art, and think of cinema as a new way.'

She is also trying to learn Malayalam for the role, which she says, is not a tongue twister as it is made out to be. 'I know Tamil, Sanskrit and Telugu and am trying to connect the dots. I'm not a movie buff as I am too preoccupied with the artistic world. But for the past one year, I have been watching Malayalam films and I'm loving them. I find them organic and natural. In general I never watch a film more than once but I watched some of the Malayalam films four to five times!'

The shoot of Careful will start in mid-January or early February. Kerala is familiar to Sandhya as she has done a few Kuchipudi performances here. 'I would love to perform more here as I look up to many of the Kuchipudi dancers,' she says.