How Srinidhi Shetty Manifested Her Dream Of Working With Vikram

Ajay Gnanamuthu and Vikram’s recently released Cobra marks KFG actress Srinidhi Shetty’s debut in Tamil cinema. The movie also happens to be a culmination of a years-long dream for the actress. In a conversation with Vishal Menon, the actress recalls the first time she watched Anniyan (2005) as an eighth grader.  

The Shankar magnum opus was also the first Tamil film the actress watched. “Look at the irony and the coincidence,” she says with a laugh, adding, “I was in 8th or 9th grade back then. The movie had gone out of the theatres then, and my uncle decided to rent a CD of the movie, which had no subtitles. Initially I was a little sad and confused because I didn’t know if I could enjoy a movie without understanding the language. I also thought the movie was a horror flick, because the poster featured Vikram sir in a different look.”

But as she began watching the movie, Shetty was hooked. “I was lost in the world of Anniyan. I was like who is this person that I’ve never seen on screen in my life!  Sitting there as an eighth grader, I was like ‘I want to act with this person’. I didn’t even know if I wanted to be an actor back then, but I knew that I wanted to act with him. Cut to 10 or 11 years later, I get to share screen with him. So, look at the irony! That is like  manifesting my dream and making it happen. So, Anniyan is one of my favourite films of Vikram sir,” she says. 

Cobra, which also co-stars Mirnalini Ravi, Irfan Pathan, Roshan Mathew, and Meenakshi Govindarajan, hit the theatres on August 31. 

This story was originally published on September 3, 2022