Padmapriya is flying with joy, literally, as her recently-released Malayalam film ‘Pazhassi Raja’ has made it big. Also her performance as Neeli, a tribal guerilla warrior, has won her rave reviews. She is now eagerly waiting to repeat the magic in the Tamil version of the movie.

“It was entirely a different role for me. Neeli is a bold character. A real tribal woman. It was physically-challenging for me. I learnt Kalari from Sathyam master in Trivandrum. I had learnt lessons about four months from him. Since I was a dancer, I liked learning Kalari and involved a lot with it,” she says.

“It was Hollywood actress Uma Thurman's character in the film ‘Kill Bill’ that helped me to prepare for the role in ‘Pazhassi Raja’, Padmapriya says and adds: “Director Hariharan encouraged me a lot. Working with veteran like them made my task easier.”

Do you think that home works are important for an actress? To this question, the actress replies: “Yes indeed. We have to do home works. I come from theatre. It gave me the necessity courage to do such a difficult role. I am a keen observer of life. I feel that helped me a lot while acting.”