5 Tolly stars making a mark in the south film industry

Our actors' outings in the south are also earning them accolades in plenty. Paoli, whose Konkani film Baga Beach took her places, says more south films are welcome.“It was in Cannes 2011 that I met director Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, who was planning the movie back then. Every language has a unique diction. Now that I'm part of the Bangladeshi venture, Satta, I know they say `khub bhalo' as `onek . onek bhalo'. In Baga Beach, more , than Konkani, I found it difficult to l pronounce some Russian words,". she said. Paoli's fave Konkani phrase? `Sodaat mhaka' meaning `leave me'.

No alien to south cinema, Raimaa Sen did Telugu film, Dhairyam, way back in 2004. After her sister, Riya, made her Malayalam debut with Santosh Sivan's Anandabh Adram, the actress signed on her first M-town film —Veeraputhran — in 2011. Raima, who played Kunji Beevathu, the wife of freedom fighter Mohammed Abdul Rahman Sahib, said she never faced any issues with the language. “Tamil and Telugu are easier to learn as there is a rhythm to the languages. Also, I spent six months in Hyderabad while doing Dhairyam. Malayalam, on the other hand, is very difficult to pick up, but I managed well with some amount of prompting," she said.

Singer-songwriter Rupam, who made his Telugu debut recently with Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitham, was offered one more song by composer Anoop Rubens after Neeli neeli kalladana. Though Rupam's commitments back in Kolkata didn't allow him to take up the offer, he is open to singing in any language.That doesn't mean diction was no stumbling block. “There is something between `ch' and `chh' in Telugu. Since that's not the case in Bangla, I was finding it a little difficult in the beginning, but managed fine," he said. The words he has picked up? Chapalega, chindulesa, but the singer says their meaning can be fathomed only in context of a full sentence.

Subhashree, who's making waves currently with her Tamil film, Maane Thaene Paeye, is already set to do director N Krishna's next film. “P Silvakumar, the DoP of my films, Boss and Game, referred my name to the makers. Curiously, I did not have to appear for a screen test. Though I won't be dubbing for this film, I learnt the dialogues by heart before delivering the scenes.If a shot is not okayed in two takes, my confidence drops, so I did all that was in my hands," she said. Subhashree, who has picked up the diction rather well, can now easily pronounce pannabendiyetarchi, which when read in the context of a sentence, means `I did this because of that'. The actress has also been offered two back-to-back films by the same production house, but she is yet to consider them.

Another Tolly young gun, who's taking baby steps to stardom in Malayali movies is Ena Saha. After Neelakasham Pacha Kadal Chuve anna Bhoomi, she recently shot for You Too Brutus. “It's a fun film, where I play a Lucknowi girl. Six men run away with her in this comic caper. After two films, I'm s pretty comfortable with the language now,“ she said. She sums up t her knowledge in Malayali with 'kuruch kuruch aryam', which she says means, `I can do a little'. With some more training, they can do a e lot more, we say.