Riding high on the global success of her recent film, Kantara, actor Sapthami Gowda says the audience reception to the film has been “unprecedented”.

“We did not expect a success of this kind. Within a week of its release, the film blew up globally. During the filming, we knew that we’d get due credit for all the hard work we put in, but this was unprecedented. We just focused on putting our heart and soul into the film,” she says.

The 26-year-old says she could not believe it when she was cast for the role. “I was the least experienced person on set. Every single member of the cast and crew were years ahead of me and I was struggling on the second day of filming. I had issues adapting to the dialect of the character as she speaks Magalorean Kannada,”  narrates the Popcorn Monkey Tiger (2020) actor.

She credits director Rishab Shetty with helping her accomplish the task: “In the beginning, everyone had their doubts whether I’d even be able to pull off this role, but Rishab sir’s confidence in me helped turn that around. He was extremely supportive and sweet. He even got me a language coach.”

Ask if she feels the pressure of living up to the film’s success with her upcoming projects, and she says, “I went into this film with little experience and an ambition to learn, and look how it turned out! I will do that for every film that comes my way, and just go with the flow.” 

Talking about the films she wants to work on in the future, she says, “I love (filmmaker) Mani Ratnam’s work and really want to be part of a classic romantic film or a mythological film. When it comes to language, I want to stick to the ones I’m fluent in, but I’m ready to learn if the story is great.”