There’s a rhythm and sweetness to the way Mangaloreans speak: Sangeetha Sringeri

Marking her return after a brief hiatus, Kannada actor Sangeetha Sringeri is stepping into a new phase of her career — one shaped by introspection, sharper choices, and a willingness to embrace unfamiliar challenges. From exploring spirituality and healing to becoming more selective about scripts, the actor says she is growing, both on and off screen.With a bilingual film marking her comeback, Sangeetha is venturing into new territory with the Mangaluru-based Padmanabha and Family. “This is a Mangaluru-Kannada dialect film. The challenge is that I don’t know the dialect or Tulu—I have to get the accent right. There’s a rhythm and sweetness to the way they speak,” she says. The film also marks her first attempt at comedy. “I have never done comedy before. For me, the biggest challenges are comedy and dialect,” she adds. Preparation, she admits, was intense. “We began rehearsals well before the shoot, and it took a lot of time. I panicked — it’s not easy,” she says. “Regular Kannada comes naturally, but here, you have to focus on language, modulation, and pauses. If you overdo it, it looks fake; if you underdo it, it doesn’t land,” she adds. She credits her team for helping her find the right balance through workshops and constant support.‘I have used my time away to learn and heal’Reflecting on her decision to step away after a reality show and a few films, Sangeetha says the break came from a need to pause and reassess. “My break was mainly because I wanted to do something for myself. For years, I struggled to get what Bigg Boss gave me — fame and money. Once I had that, continuing to chase the same things didn’t make sense,” she says. Instead of chasing external validation, she chose to slow down and focus inward. Her journey took her to Thiruvananthapuram, where she trained under a spiritual guide. “I have my guru in Kerala. I went there, learned healing, and spent a lot of time travelling and understanding myself and my inner growth,” she says. This phase led her to discover a new passion—crystal healing. “When I learned healing, I realised my strengths lay in crystal healing. The understanding of crystals and their energy came very naturally to me. Maybe I was meant to do this,” she says. She has since begun investing more time in it, turning it into a dedicated personal pursuit.