New Actress Ranya On Her Tamil Debut With Chiyaan Vikram

It is not something new for Tamil cinema to import actresses from other film industries. While Hindi and Malayalam actresses have been Kollywood directors' favourite so far, Kannada actresses are slowly making their way into Tamil cinema.

While Deepa Sannidhi made her Tamil acting debut in Siddharth's Enakkul Oruvan, Kriti Kharbanda will be seen in GV Prakash's upcoming flick, Bruce Lee.

Joining the list is Ranya Rao, who will be making her Tamil debut in Vikram Prabhu's Wagah. But the actress has said she had to go through a lot of screening process in order to bag the role.

"I had several auditions before I was confirmed for this film. My manager had circulated my pictures. GNR sir happened to see them and called me. He first had a quick audition and then wanted me to experience the character by having a look test. Since I didn't know the language, he wanted to check my dialogue delivery, too," she has told Times of India.

Looks like director GNR Kumaravelan wanted to leave no stone unturned, "he later wanted to see if my chemistry with Vikram Prabhu would work. So, we had to do a photo shoot and video shoot. Only after this, he was convinced," she has said. Talking about her character in the movie, Ranya has said, "I play a young girl, who falls in love with Vikram. The character has many shades and that gives me a lot of scope to perform."

The team had to shoot in challenging locations, "we had to shoot in various climatic conditions. On one side, we had to climb the mountains with the team carrying all their equipment in -15 degree. We later shot in hot weather conditions, too." The 23-year-old actress, who has done two films in Kannada has thanked Vikram and the team for making her Tamil debut memorable. "Vikram was a very supportive co-star. I was worried since I didn't know the language, but he was very helpful. The director and the assistants, too, helped me make my debut very smoothly," she has said.