Tejaswini is now Niharika

Tejaswini Prakash has been in

Kannada

films for over eight years. Having acted with leading heroes like Darshan and Ganesh in supporting roles, the girl was confident about landing lead roles in big-ticket films. Though that dream wasn’t realised, Tejaswini finally feels redeemed. Reason? Today, Kannadigas all over address the actor by her screen name, Niharika, after which her serial is also named. That’s one of the reasons why she’s even changed her profile name on social media to her latest screen name.
“I had always wanted to play a pivotal role in a mega project. This serial has made me realise that dream and has brought me so much acclaim,” says a wistful Tejaswini. The project came to her at a time when she had given up hope of ever getting something substantial in Kannada films and had branched out to the Telugu industry where she bagged lead roles. “Having done films for so long, when this small screen project came my way, I grabbed it. The script was compelling because here was a character that the entire story was focused on and that too for the right reasons — she is a champion of women empowerment and raises her voice against injustice and wrong doings,” she observes.
Today, Tejaswini is once more busy in Kannada and she’s glad as it’s an opportunity that she’s waited for all this while. “And once I got into the medium, I realised the clout it commands. Even films had not got me this kind of recognition. Wherever I go, elders to small kids, call me Niharika. I feel extremely overwhelmed with the kind of attention coming my way,” she says.
Initially though, Tejaswini had a hard time adjusting to the schedule of the small screen. “I had heard from people that it'd be tough; but I hadn’t anticipated that it’d be this hectic. If I leave home at 6 am, I wrap shoot only by 8.30 pm. And unlike films, there’s no schedule break. We shoot non stop. It is only now that I’m finally getting used to it,” she shares. In spite of having to deal with hectic schedules, she tells us, “I feel like I’ve started acting only now. There’s so much nuance that goes into acting in serials. Unlike films, we don’t dub. So your pronunciation and diction has to be perfect. I’m learning so much about my craft at this stage,” states the actor. So where to from here? “I have three releases in Telugu. But I also want to continue doing Niharika. Whatever I take up, the dates will have to be matched after my dates for the

TV

show. Of course, I don’t want to entirely give up acting in films. It’s just that the standards have been upped after I’ve got Niharika,” she sums up.