Kangana: Will learn Tamil to feel closer to Jayalalithaa

Kangana Ranaut and J Jayalalithaa

Give her a meaty role and Kangana Ranaut will sink her teeth into it. After playing the warrior queen with conviction in Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi, the actor will now step into the shoes of J Jayalalithaa, the late chief minister of Tamil Nadu, for the AL Vijay-directed biopic. The bilingual has been titled Thalaivi in Tamil and Jaya in Hindi.

Given her perfectionist streak, it's not surprising when the actor says that she will take lessons in Tamil before the venture goes on floors in September. "The scenes will be in Tamil, and I will learn the language to understand the character better and feel closer to her. I will begin my language classes once I honour my commitments to Panga and Mental Hai Kya," she reveals.

Only a month ago, the actor-director had indicated that she was gearing up to helm her own biopic, which was being penned by Baahubali (2015) and Manikarnika writer KV Vijayendra Prasad. However, she threw a curveball on her birthday when she announced Thalaivi as her next. The actor says that Jayalalithaa's feisty personality mirrors her own, which made her give a nod to the ambitious project. "I see parallels with my own journey in hers, but her success story is much bigger than mine. In the first narration itself, I could see myself doing the part because it came naturally to me. I could have gone ahead with my own biopic, but this was much more enticing."

While she had done few films in the South at the beginning of her career, Ranaut says the biopic is her attempt to tap into an industry that is far removed from Bollywood. "Regional films have always interested me. When we go there to promote our films, we realise they have a thriving industry of their own and there is a major lack of connect with that audience as a Hindi film actor. I was looking for the right script to come my way and when it did, I lapped it up."

Also Read: Kangana Ranaut to be paid a whopping 24 crore for Jayalalithaa biopic?

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