No language barriers for Dipa!

One of the many things that impress you about actress Dipa Shah is her language proficiency. And it’s not just one language that we are talking about here.
Says the actress, who is making her debut in Kollywood with Yudham Sei, a film that’s being directed by Mysskin and that features an established director-turned-actor Cheran in the lead along with her, “My base is Sanskrit and my parents used to teach me shlokas in Sanskrit.So, I know Sanskrit well. I also know Gujarati because I come from a Gujarati family. I stay in Mumbai and Marathi was my third language in school while English was my first. Apart from these languages, I also know Punjabi like any other person who has lived in the north. Then, I can also understand Bengali and Telugu. I’m not proficient in French but yes, I can understand and speak a bit. Now, I’m learning Tamil.”
Hear her speak in Tamil and you realise that the actress is not far off from the day when she will be able to proudly proclaim that she knows Tamil too. Smiles the actress, “I am making an effort to learn Tamil. On the sets, I go with my book and ask everybody from my assistant directors, co-directors, my touch-up boys to my co-artistes for five Tamil sentences that they use in day-to-day life. I write them down and learn them.”
And what if people didn’t give her those sentences? Grins the actress, “I’d tell Mysskin sir that he or she was not helping me and he’d scream, ‘Hello! Give her five sentences; she’s trying to learn Tamil!’ But jokes apart, people here are very warm and make you feel like you are part of the family.”
So, why did she take the decision to come down south? Says Dipa, “The southern industry, in particular the Tamil industry, is a lot more classy when it comes to making films. There are real scripts happening here,” says the actress, who has modelled for a number of reputed brands.
Ask her for details about the film and she is tight-lipped. “I can’t tell you much about this film except that this is a passionately-made film. As the title suggests, it’s a film about good triumphing over evil.”
A little more pressure for details only gets her saying, “The best things are left unsaid. You’ll have to watch the film to know what it’s all about.”
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