Sandhya Raju is well-known in the Telugu states as a renowned Kuchipudi dancer. But what many don’t know is that she wears multiple hats – businesswoman, actor, choreographer, costume designer, model and producer. Sandhya is now getting ready for the release of her new movie, Natyam, which she is starring in and producing too. The movie is aiming for a theatrical release around Vinayaka Chavithi, either on September 10 or 17.
Natyam, helmed by director Revanth Korukonda, is a dance-based movie. Sandhya tells TNM, “It’s been more than two decades since we saw a good classical dance movie that is heroine-oriented, like Swarnakamalam, Mayuri or Sagara Sangamam. These movies are classics and the kind of impact they had on the audience is really amazing. We’re trying to create that magic once again on-screen with Natyam.”
Natyam revolves around a dancer and her guru. Kamal Kamaraju, who essays the role of Sandhya’s guru in the movie, underwent a one-year training in Kuchipudi under none other than Sandhya herself. “When we were in talks for the movie, director Revanth gave me this challenge to train Kamal. Revanth said that at the end of the movie, Kamal should appear better than me on screen,” says Sandhya.
In the recently released ‘Namah Shivaya’ song, one can see that Sandhya’s efforts have paid off watching Kamal’s transformation as a Kuchipudi dancer.
“As a dance teacher I’m proud that he could learn and dance so well. And doing dance choreography for the camera was also a different experience for me, which I enjoyed,” says Sandhya. Apart from choreography, she is the costume designer and is also managing the movie’s production herself on behalf of Nishrinkala Films.
The artiste says that the progression to acting was natural with her background in dance. “While being trained in dance by my gurus, I was also training to play different characters on stage, be it Radha, Krishna, Satyabhama or others. Portraying characters and telling stories through dance is something I’m very passionate about. Based on my performances, I got offers to do plays, short films and movies, which I started taking up.”
Daughter of Ramco Group Chairman Venketrama Raja, Sandhya is the daughter-in-law of Ramalinga Raju, founder of Satyam Computers.
Sandhya says that her family’s support throughout her journey has been immense. “My family members have been very supportive while I pursued my dreams. They believe that women should get equal opportunities and whatever field I chose, they wanted me to excel in that.”
Even though she has her family’s backing, Sandhya says that if audiences do not accept her through Natyam she will not continue to act. “Audience are the ones who are going to watch me on screen, they should accept my performance, they should like it, only then can I take this career forward.”
The shooting for the two-hour feature film was completed before the pandemic hit, however, with the closure of theatres due to the various lockdowns the makers were waiting for a suitable date to release it.
After the trailer of the film was posted and the song released recently, Sandhya says she has been receiving several offers from the film industry. “Surprisingly, I’ve got many offers to do films, but so far nothing has inspired me. The decision will depend on several factors, I will decide after the release of Natyam based on the audience’s response.”