Popular South Indian actress Vimala Raman is all set to make her Bollywood entry with an author-backed role in Amrapali, a remake of the yesteryear classic. "Frankly, I never dreamt of a B-town career since I am happy with my career here. After a few discussions with the director, I signed the film two weeks ago and the muhurat for the same will be held on April 16," she said.
Atul Garge (former assistant of Ashutosh Gowariker) will direct the film and there are reports that Arbaaz Khan will play a prominent role in this epic. The film is based on the life of a royal courtesan who latter becomes a disciple of Buddha.
Vimala Raman has apparently become a specialist in playing courtesan roles and period epics. "I won great laurels for my courtesan role (Nagavalli) in the Kannada hit Aptharakshaka and probably that is one of the reasons for Hindi film-makers to consider me. The Kannada film was a semi-periodic drama set 150 years ago, whereas Amrapali is set during the advent of Buddhism. Doing period epics is a challenge as we need to be careful about costumes, hairstyling, dialect, etc. to get our act right. Even my classical dancing skills have come in handy in enacting such roles," she added.
Vimala Raman's upcoming projects in Tollywood includes Ranga The Donga and Gayam 2. She is also excited about her maiden international project Dame 999. "The plot revolves around navarasas and my traditional role represents karunasa. While doing this film, I learnt a lot about live sound recording. I shared screen space with Indian actors├п┬┐┬╜Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak and a few Hollywood actors. I also realized the significance of subtle and non-dramatic acting," she revealed.
