I think I am enjoying co-producing more than acting: Parul Yadav

It was in 2012 that Parul Yadav shot to fame as Mumtaz in Govindaya Namaha. Six years and multiple hit Kannada projects such as Aatagara and Killing Veerappan later, she continues to be well-loved among audiences. Her most recent project, the Ramesh Aravind-directed Butterfly, a remake of Kangana Ranaut-starrer Queen, has been riding on high expectations, and we caught up with the actress to chat with her about what the film means to her, taking on the dual role of actor and producer, her love for Kannada audiences and more. Excerpts…We hear you’ve recently moved to Bengaluru, so we officially welcome you to the city. What prompted the big move?I’ve been in the industry for the past six years and been speculating whether I should shift base here or not. I am a typical Gujarati who is dependent on her family for everything, but now that I am acting and co-producing Butterfly, which is being simultaneously made in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, I have to be in Bengaluru for post-production. So, I have shifted here for the next six months, at least.Are you enjoying the new role of a co-producer of all the four remakes?I have catapulted myself from an actor to co-producer. It all started when I saw the original in the theatres and felt that Kangana Ranaut did a fantabulous job. I came out of the theatre thinking how lucky she was to get that role and that’s when the idea of remaking it came up. I wasn’t supposed to co-produce it; it’s just that I got so involved with the production that the producer Manu Kumaran asked me to come onboard. Trust me, I am enjoying every bit of it and I don’t mind saying that I think I am enjoying co-producing more than acting.What is it like to play a role that Kangana played to near perfection?This was one of my biggest fears. Since you brought it up, I don’t mind sharing that when I got the role, I was very excited, but somewhere in between I had sleepless nights. I was pulling my hair wondering why I picked this role and whether I was thinking too high of myself, because this is a very difficult role. I feared about being compared to Kangana and to the heroines of the other three remakes, Tamannah, Kajal Agarwal and Manjima Mohan, who are all fantabulous actors. I also want to congratulate the other three, because even they would’ve had similar fears of being compared with an actor like Kangana.Did you get to interact or spend some time with actresses of the other remakes?We all spent some time together in Nice, France, where all four remakes were being shot. Our paths would cross in between shoots and we’d meet each other. We also shared our experiences, which helped in fine-tuning our performances. For instance, when I met Tamannah at the airport, I noticed she was wearing mehendi on her hands and carrying 3-4 cones as well. I asked her why and she said, “Did you see Queen carefully? From the first frame to the last, Kangana’s hands have faded mehendi.” And this did not cross my mind at all. We also had healthy competition among us, and got along well. It’s a big relief when all the stars on the set get along with each other.What would you say was your biggest challenge in portraying the role?The fact that Kangana got a National Award for the movie speaks volumes about her performance. It is a universal subject that most girls can relate to. In the film, she gets dumped before her big day and I could relate to that, in the sense that I have also had heartbreaks. The most challenging thing was to get the body language of a small-town girl, like in this movie, in which I’m from Gokarna. My body language is confident because I grew up in Mumbai, so portraying a naïve, small-town girl was difficult. I asked Ramesh Aravind sir for a five-day workshop to work on it and I was happy that he gave me that.Your last film released almost a year-and-a-half ago, so you’ve spent a lot of time and effort in this film…Oh yes, absolutely. During an acting workshop, Ramesh sir came and asked me, “Do you mind not taking the prompting for your dialogues?” and I frowned and I said, “No, I’m from Mumbai. I can’t do without the prompting.” He did not say anything, but I could see the disappointment in his face, and I don’t like it when someone challenges me. I feel it brings out the best in me. I did not say anything to him and when I went back to Mumbai, I hired a teacher to learn the Kannada dialogues. Each one of them was huge and I made sure I mugged up all my lines, every word. Ten days later, when we met again at Mumbai for a workshop, he said, “Parul take the prompting,” and I replied, “Ramesh sir, I don’t need prompting.” He was so happy to hear that. I also realized that not taking the prompting helped me so much in my performance. Whatever I’ve learnt about acting so far, I’ve utilized it in this movie. My last movie, Jessie, released a year-and-a-half ago, so I’ve dedicated all that time to this film. So that is my love for this project.Is it a conscious choice to act more in Kannada films or did you happen to be at the right place at the right time to land movies here?I’ve acted in Tamil and Malayalam films, but whatever little name and fame I got was because of the Kannada film Govindaya Namaha, and the song Pyarge Aagbittaite. Kannadigas accepted me with so much love and gave me the title Pyarge Hudugi. So, my loyalty and inclination is always towards the Kannada film industry. I want to stick around and continue doing more films here.How is it managing the dual role of actor and producer?It was difficult at times, but my team was supportive. Whatever preparation was needed, I did it before and they took care of the rest. I had told my team, “Whenever I have lot of dialogues, please don’t come with any questions to me.” Manu Kumaran and his team are very experienced and took care of everything. My sister was the supervising producer too, so that helped a lot too.