It’s just a diversion

She made her silver screen debut with ‘Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu’ (SVSC) in which she shared screen space with the likes of Mahesh Babu and Samantha. Though not a major role, it sure did trigger a lot of interest in her and she was “flooded with offers” after that. But Tejaswi Madivada, a Telugu ammayi, wasn’t really interested in acting but took the first offer only because “it paid well”. “At that time, I was planning to pursue my Masters degree and wanted to pay the fee on my own. So that’s how I took my first role,” she explains. But interestingly, after a point of time, things changed when she realised that acting was something that came naturally to her. “I could express with ease and I realised I should be doing it,” she adds. The 22-year-old who is a dance instructor, specifically Hip-Hop, says her acting stint can be attributed to her dancing. “I had been working as a dance trainer and I got the chance to work in a soft drink advertisement with actor Allu Arjun. After that I started getting film offers. I think it is due to dancing that I find acting easy,” she elucidates.

While Tejaswi has worked with Samantha in ‘SVSC’, the two were seen together again in ‘Manam’. The duo is now known to share a bond and are apparently great friends. “She is my mentor!” she says adding that Samantha is a “great person”. Tejaswi was seen in minor roles for a while. But now, she is coming into a different league with lead roles in several movies. Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Ice Cream’ being one of them. She will also play the lead in a Kranthi Madhav film, a film by Omkar and a Tamil film with director Ravi Chandran. So does she see her friend Samantha as a competition in the future? “No way! She’s no competition,” she exclaims. “She’s in a different league altogether.”

So coming back to lead roles, Tejaswi says her tryst with Ram Gopal Varma was “nothing like working with any other director”. “He’s totally different. I had worked with Puri (Jagganadh) sir in ‘Heart Attack’ and RGV is the sir of my sir! So I’d call him the ultimate sir,” she laughs. Meanwhile, the trailer of ‘Ice Cream’ seems pretty interesting. But a still from the video is raising eyebrows as Tejaswi is seen taking off her shorts and the camera moves down along with the shorts. “There isn’t much to it, really! It’s just a diversion, you know. A technique to divert the viewer. I think it wouldn’t be such a big deal if you watch it on the big screen.”