She initially planned to make her comeback with a biopic on Indian freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu, titled Sarojini Naidu—The Unsung Freedom Fighter. However, the pandemic and elections disrupted Shanthi Priya’s plans in 2020. In the interim, she shot for Dharavi Bank (2022), and the Tamil film, Bad Girl.

Produced by filmmaker Vetri Maaran, directed by Varsha Bharath, and presented by Anurag Kashyap, Bad Girl won an award at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. Priya says, “Bad Girl is a beautiful comeback after 30 years for me. In this coming-of-age drama about a teenager, whose aim in life is to have a boyfriend, I play her mother. It’s a relationship conflict between a daughter and her mother. When I signed this film, [in my head] it was about what my mother, and now me, went through to raise kids.”

Kashyap saw the rushes of Bad Girl when good friend Maaran invited him on set and then expressed his desire to present the story. “Anurag believed in the story, producer and director. He felt that this film needed to be put out everywhere,” she says.

While Priya basks in the reaction to the film, she remains keen to return to the set of Naidu’s biopic, directed by Vinay Chandra, to portray the poet in her senior years. “The remaining one-and-a-half schedule should be completed by this year,” says the actor, who made her Bollywood debut opposite Akshay Kumar in Saugandh (1991).

Ask her if she stays in touch with her former co-star Kumar, and Priya shares that she is “looking forward to an opportunity to work with him”.

Actress Shanthi Priya, who was seen in films like Saugandh (1991),Phool Aur Angaar (1993) and Veerta (1993) quit movies in the late 90s to focus on her personal life. Now, she is all set to return to showbiz with a biopic.

Ask her if missed being away from the camera and she shares, “I don’t have any regrets. I took a break to focus on my duties as a mother and a wife. I think I have fulfilled all my duties and now I am back to where I belong.”

Shanthi Priya, who tried her hand at television in the last decade, says that she feels inspired when she sees the actresses of the current generation. “Today, I see that not only actresses who are married are facing the camera, but also those who are mothers return to showbiz after their maternity leave. I am glad that my sons, too, pushed me to get back to what I like doing the most — acting,” she says.

The actress will return to the big screen as Sarojini Naidu in a biopic on the freedom fighter. Talking about the project, she says, “It is a pan-India movie and will be made in four different languages — Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. The film will go on floors in June. I have a lot of prep to do before we start shooting. There are hardly any reels or clippings to observe Sarojini Naidu’s mannerisms. I need to get her body language right before I start shooting. I am very excited for this one.”