Bhanupriya made a remarkable debut in the Telugu film industry with National award-winning 1984 blockbuster 'Sitaara'. She later entered the Hindi film industry with the 1986 multi-starrer 'Dosti Dushmani', featuring Jeetendra, Rishi Kapoor, and Rajinikanth. During the shoot, she also signed 'Khudgarz', where her role had limited screen space. In a flashback interview with Lehren, Bhanupriya explains why her Khudgarz role was a risky trial. Watch her full interview and glamorous photoshoot on the Lehren podcast.
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00:00Nobody is competition for me, I can f**king move. I want to go in my own way and my separate
00:21track you know. So I want to do glamorous roles plus characters. Everything I want to
00:28do, I don't want to land in one character.
00:36Yes, Banupriya, the role which you did in Kudgas, it was such a small role. Why you
00:41accept roles which are not so very satisfying like you do in Telugu films? Like for example,
00:46Sitara, such a wonderful role. When one sees Sitara and then one sees Kudgas, one feels
00:51this girl has been wasted.
00:53No, not like that. In the beginning, Dosti Dushmanya, I accepted all these pictures,
00:59I mean Kudgas and all. I don't know about the subject. They told, I mean Rakeshji is
01:03very best friend of Jitendra and he told after you come to Bombay, I'll narrate the subject
01:09to you. These are all finalised and I came for shooting. So before shooting, they told
01:16me the subject. Then I said, it's a very small role. Then he said, this subject is
01:22really between two friends. The heroines are two of them and in both of them, yours
01:27is the best. It will be recognised due to that scene and all. So, it won't be so bad
01:34for you. But hereafter, I'm very careful to do, I mean, choose my characters. I don't
01:41want to do such characters. Because it is recognised that such small roles in the beginning
01:50it will be affected only. I think so.
01:53And would you like to be known as an actress or as a star?
01:57I want to be, what is Bhanupriya, I don't know it. You can feel, let's feel how big
02:07it comes. Actress plus glamorous, I don't want to mix in one type of roles. So, I want
02:14to do glamorous roles plus characters. Everything I want to do, I don't want to ban in one
02:19character.
03:20Today, so many actresses from the South, they have made it very big in Bombay. Sri Devi,
03:35Jaya Pradha, Meenakshi Shishadri. She is also basically a South Indian girl. So, how do
03:39you feel the competition in the industry today with so many girls from the South competing
03:43for the same role?
03:46Nobody is competing for me. I want to go in my own way and my separate track. I don't
03:58like to compare also to other women. You came to make Sri Devi down that way. Nothing like
04:06that.
04:07You don't want to replace anybody?
04:10No, nothing like that. I want to make a place by myself, what I am.
04:15And in this industry to survive, is it necessary to have luck or talent, which is important?
04:21Both. Definitely both. If the talent is there, then there is no luck and there is no good
04:30time. It's all waste, isn't it? If there is luck and time is good, there is no talent,
04:37just only few pictures we can do and we can't stand for long time. So, both is necessary
04:42for an artist. I think so.
04:45And is it necessary to have a godfather?
04:48Yeah, definitely. They are ambitious. They should be, they will be. For me, I can see
04:57T. Ramarajji Ponnachand. He was there, introduced me. He is there. He accepted me as a hero
05:04in that first film. I am really very happy. He hasn't seen any of my film, I think so.
05:08Without saying, as soon as director said that I am going to put Panipriya, he said okay.
05:14They are all my well wishes, I can tell.
05:34Thank you very much.
06:04Thank you very much.