Actress Avika Gor speaks up about her latest visit to Kazakhstan where she made her debut with the Kazakh film ‘I Go To School’.
Films across different languages are what actress Avika Gor is hoping for after being part of the Kazakh film ‘I Go To School’. She attended the premiere of the film recently and hopes that this film opens the doors for other international projects as well.
“I really hope that I get more projects such as this one. It was such an honour and I hope this is a stepping stone into the bigger picture. I would love to be a part of films across languages if I get a good opportunity,” she says.
Talking about her experience in Kazakhstan, Avika Gor says that they love Indian actors. “They are familiar with Raj Kapoor, and actors Shah Rukh Khan and Mithun Chakraborty. I am happy that they know me as well now. It is quite an honour. I am grateful, as not many people have been to Kazakhstan for a premiere. This is a big deal, and it feels amazing to create history for our country,” she says.
Talking about the process of coming on board for the project, Avika Gor says, “I’ve visited the country a few times to promote my shows and films and it has always been a great experience. One of the biggest producers there, Nurlan Koyanbayev, invited me for his talk show back in 2014 when I was in Kazakhstan. So, we kept in touch after that. He told me that he has a script for me and I was on board from the word go,” she says, adding, “I like to work with people who I can trust and this was why this film was perfect for me. There were absolutely no challenges. Although they work in a rather different way, I adjusted very quickly and had a lot of fun!”
Avika Gor had a wonderful experience shooting 'I Go To School', in Turkey. Happy with the response around the film, Avika Gor revealed that she had to learn the language and understand the culture better to do justice to her character. And, she did not take this as a challenge but yet another opportunity to learn.
“Unknown language and unknown culture are the things I faced when I entered the Telugu film industry, but eventually the kind of love that I received from the audience is what makes me more confident about the fact that I can do more. I am very proud that because of Balika Vadhu and the TV work I have done, people are giving me so much love and respect. I feel blessed and am glad that this has happened to me. I am also happy to have started this movie journey and see a lot happening in the future. I am going to definitely collaborate with a lot of filmmakers in the coming times, really excited for this new chapter in life,” she says.
'I Go To School' is an interesting title. “It’s a part of a very popular franchise. The first movie of the series was based on a character, who doesn't know much English and can only say 'I go to School', and goes to the US. This statement became so funny and memorable that they decided to make this part. A lot of locals caught up to this particular line and it became famous,” she continues, “My character in this second movie is very interesting because I actually play myself. I portray the role of an actor who is in Turkey shooting for something, so it wasn't very difficult. In movies, an Indian is shown in a particular way so that is my character. I have never done something like this before so it was an interesting experience.”
Glad that she got a chance to go to Kazakhstan and see the response and the reaction at the premiere, and meet the fans, Avika Gor shares that it helped her in understanding the audience better. She also feels grateful for all the love the movie has been receiving.
“I am very proud of the fact that this happened. The movie is actually very funny because when I watched it, it was in Russian and the subtitles were in Kazakh, so there was a huge language barrier, but I still got the feel. It wasn’t very difficult to understand because at the end of the day music, art and action is there, so a lot of people understand these things because of expression and the gestures. Also, what matters the most is audiences’ reaction, and I am happy with the reaction I am getting from them. They can’t wait for me to come back for another Kazakh film,” concludes Avika Gor.