It may be the monsoon season in Hyderabad, but for actor Sreeleela, it clearly is cherry-picking time. Sreeleela made a tepid debut in the film industry three years ago with the Kannada movie KISS.
But 2022 changed all of it. She burst into the 100-crore movie league with her role as a girl-next-door in actor Ravi Teja’s blockbuster movie Dhamaka. Her spunky screen presence and her energetic dance rendition to a peppy, Telangana folk number, Pulsar bike, made her stand out amidst the scores of actors who enter Tollywood every month. Her dance moves trended on social media platforms and four weeks after the movie released, she was in the news for going on a never-before signing spree.
A mama’s girl and a vegetarian who believes that happiness, water, sunshine and removing make-up every night is the secret to her beauty, Sreeleela is keen to make rapid strides in films on her own, without any big surnames or family backing. Hustling is all that she believes in.
When she started off with her Telugu debut movie Pelli SandaD , a remake of legendary Telugu director K Raghavendra Rao’s cult movie of the 90’s, the director compared her acting and her beauty to his favorite actor Sridevi! A stamp of approval from the director ensured she caught everyone’s attention from then on.
It may be the monsoon season in Hyderabad, but for actor Sreeleela, it clearly is cherry-picking time. Sreeleela made a tepid debut in the film industry three years ago with the Kannada movie KISS
But 2022 changed all of it. She burst into the 100-crore movie league with her role as a girl-next-door in actor Ravi Teja’s blockbuster movie Dhamaka. Her spunky screen presence and her energetic dance rendition to a peppy, Telangana folk number, Pulsar bike, made her stand out amidst the scores of actors who enter Tollywood every month. Her dance moves trended on social media platforms and four weeks after the movie released, she was in the news for going on a never-before signing spree.
Today, she has not two or three, but eight big-ticket movies with top stars including Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu, Balakrishna and Vijay Devarakonda at various stages of production. No wonder it takes two weeks to pin down this busy bee for a quick chat.
Born in the US, her family relocated to Bengaluru when she was two. This little ‘drama queen’ – aptly named so by her mom, Dr Swaranalatha, a gynecologist – displayed her love for the performing arts even as a toddler. So, she wasn’t surprised when this prodigy announced that she wanted to pursue acting while she was still in college. The only hitch was that she wasn’t doing just any average academic course, but studying for a full-time MBBS degree in Bengaluru.
Sreeleela has been the muse of celebrity photographer and cinematographer Bhuvan Gowda (who worked for the KGF franchise, also their family friend) in her high school days. It was his glamorous photo shoots of her which landed in a Kannada producer’s hand and she bagged her debut film. When she had to decide between becoming a doctor or an actor, the multi-tasker decided to become a multi-hyphenate: doctor- actor-foster-mother. A year ago, she adopted two differently-abled children as well. We catch up with the actor just in time for her upcoming release –Adikeshava – alongside Panja Vaishnav Tej on August 18. Excerpts.
This year seems like an exciting one with several announcements of your upcoming movies. Yes, I have seven movies at various stages of production. Adikeshava with Vaishnav Tej will be released on August 18. I have Skanda, Bhagavanth Kesari with Balakrishna, Nithin32 with Nithin, Guntur Kaaram with Mahesh Babu, VD12 with Vijay Devarakonda and Ustaad Bhagat Singh with Pawan Kalyan. I couldn’t have asked the universe for a better year.
There is a misconception that every doctor’s child is pushed into pursuing medicine, but I was not. I was keen to pursue it even as a child. I wanted to pursue both – medicine and acting. My profession and passion are related to people – one to heal, and another to entertain. I believe that I can have it all and rock being a doctor and an actor. I am blessed that I can do both now –pursue my profession and my passion and try to excel at both.
How do you juggle two full-time careers – as a medico and a mainstream movie actor?
Pursuing medicine demands seriousness and commitment. My mother, a doctor herself, handholds me with the lessons I miss. I even get to visit hospitals with her and check on some cases. Be it on the sets or in the clinic, being consistent is quite important to me. It’s part of my lifestyle. I feel great that I can be of medical help during an emergency.
I wake up and go for a walk. I put on my pods and walk for hours, listening to music. Music sets my mind free and it is both a physical and a mental workout. Then after putting make-up and getting to my shoot location, I grab my breakfast and have a working lunch, if on the sets. I steal a power nap if we get an hour’s lunch break. It’s pack-up time by 6 pm. However, it’s not like I go home and put my feet up. I could be reading a script, trying out costumes for the next day, do a dance rehearsal or maybe I will just perform for my family. I get barely an hour for myself where I can do anything that I want. I am not complaining though. This is what I signed up for.
Hate comments are part of social media.
I want to celebrate the love I receive and ignore the hate I rarely get. I don’t take it too seriously. If I enjoyed doing a photo shoot, I post it. If I am on vacation and want to share that moment, I just do it on the fly without curating it too much. Going with the flow helps.
As a kid, I learned veena, Bharatanatyam and theater/dramatics, swimming and played a bit of badminton. My mother
Quick Take
forced me into these and I was not keen but eventually I got used to all of them. Now, I am very grateful that I was able to invest my time wisely because of her. Although I was not excited to do these activities, it all makes sense to me now. It wasn’t with the idea of becoming an actor, but to have a well-rounded personality.
The best is the love I receive from people and being able to see a new me in every role I play. The worst is…nothing in the industry has irked me so far. There is always white and black in every path and embracing them both gracefully is quite important. I would like to pay more attention to white than the black. For now, I am giving my best to movies and medicine. n MANJU
HASHTAGS THAT DEFINE YOU: #Limitless #Blissfull #Playful
IF THERE IS A BIOPIC/BIOGRAPHY ON YOU, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO CALL IT: The Leela Palace
THE OTT SHOW YOU ARE CURRENTLY BINGEING ON: Santa Clarita Diet; Stranger things
CELEBRITIES YOU LOVE/FOLLOW/STALK ON SOCIAL MEDIA): Deepika Padukone, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Sofia Vergara
ONE THING YOU WISH THE CINEMA INDUSTRY DOES AWAY WITH: I am just starting out in the industry and I have a long way to go. I don’t have any complaints