Disney+ Hotstar’s Telugu web series 'Dayaa' premiered on Friday (August 4). The show stars JD Chakravarthy, Ramya Nambessan, Eesha Rebba, Vishnupriya Bhimineni, Kamal Kamaraju and Josh Ravi among others. Ahead of the release of the series, Outlook India had a conversation with Ramya who plays a reporter named Kavita in it. She said in the interview that 'Dayaa' is 'experimental genre-wise, treatment-wise and narration-wise' and it's going to be 'totally new to the Telugu industry'. After watching the series, I have realised she was indeed right as director Pavan Sadineni has served a gritty series with multi-layered plot and the turns and twists in the show have made it a delightful watch. The show is also available in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, and Marathi.
Ramya Nambessan has also spoken about her character, her reaction when she got the offer and a lot more. Here are the excerpts from the interview.
You are playing a missing reporter in 'Dayaa'. Tell us more about your character.
I play a journalist in the whole series. Playing Kavita is very gratifying because we know journalists, especially female journalists are the bravest and the most courageous people here. She is very sensible and she is definitely a person with self-respect, brave, and fights for the truth. In any show, we have always projected their public life but in this show, Kavita is dealing with both sides of her life. Both the emotional and professional sides of her are shown. Both her friends are undergoing a lot of troubles and how she is dealing with it and how she is interconnected with other characters and how the whole non-linear narration would add to all the turbulence in the show.
'Dayaa' would be a total experimental genre-wise, treatment-wise and also narration-wise, and it's going to be totally new to the Telugu industry.
What was your first reaction when you were offered the role?
I was a little sceptical. I was like 'What, are you looking for this Ramya?' Because I am not so down to earth because I feel like predominantly working in Tamil and Malayalam industries, I never thought I would get a role or a call from the Telugu industry and that too for an important role in this particular series. So, I was a little sceptical and surprised and I asked the director, 'Are you sure that you are calling me or you are looking for another Ranyay?'. He said he was looking for me. He said he saw my work in 'Pizza' and wanted to work with me. He felt I fit into the role.
I am so happy that Kavita is going to inspire a lot of people out there especially journalists who pursue journalism. When you stand for the truth, life is going to take a toll.on you in the current scenario. But when you stand for the truth at least you can live peacefully and be happy that you have done something right in your life and on the right path. So, you would get that kind of inspiration from my role.
How did you prepare for your character?
I am basically a natural actor and if I prepare I won't do good and can't add anything to the character. It should come naturally to me and I think as an actor, there is a natural thing within you like you observe. Wherever you go, you observe and learn. Unknowingly or knowingly you adapt something from any person you meet in your life. So, that is what I do. If I am doing a journalist character I don't go deep into that particular life. I will just put my confidence and if the director is so sure and good in what he does I am good because I am a director's actor.
So, when I entered the set I was so...like when I first spoke to Pavan, he was very confident and was glad that I was doing Kavita. From that conversation, I realised that he is very confident with my character and others too that are written. That is the only thing I need from any director. We are daily doing homework and it's not just for the character. Any actor will be automatically in that loop and that works better.
Any challenges you faced while shooting
The whole thing was challenging for me because I am not new to Telugu, but because I am playing a journalist and they would have a certain kind of language they would speak in front of the public and they use this pure Telugu language when they speak to the public. So, those words and sophisticated Telugu should be there. So, I am like completely alien and I used to write the dialogues before. That was challenging actually. I had to mug up like one-page dialogue and there will be huge scenes to act and I had the dialogues to deliver. So, I had that kind of challenge that every actor would face and nothing much. Our set was like one fun ride as we had an energetic team.
