“I WAS CALLED FOR A SMALL CHARACTER BUT IT WAS CHANGED TO A FULL-LENGTH ROLE”

Rangoon produced by AR Murugadoss and directed by Rajkumar Periasamy had its audio launched yesterday and the film is gearing up for a June 9th release. Gautham Karthik and Sana Makbul play the leads while Upasana Iyer, a popular model and Miss Chennai 2014 is making her film entry through Rangoon. We catch up with the bubbly Upasana to get more details:

What is Rangoon all about?
The film is a family drama. It is about a young man’s struggle to keep his family, love life and career intact.

How did you bag this role?
We shot the film two years back and I was into modeling then. The director had seen my photographs. He asked me to come for an audition for a small character. When the look test came, they changed the character, made it into a full-length role and now it has become the second lead.

Tell us something about your role 
I cannot reveal much about my role. All that I can say is I play Renu, Gautham Karthik’s sister who is very mature, serious and someone who gets married very early. I had to do a lot of homework for my role because, in real life, I am anything but serious. I had to undergo a transformation as regards my dialect, costume and body language. The role was very challenging. There have been emotional scenes where I had to cry a lot and I had to do intense rehearsals.

Director Rajkumar Periasamy
I would like to thank my director as his patience and tolerance with me helped a lot. He was so keen to bring the authentic feel to the film and you will realize that when you see Rangoon.

AR Murugadoss
Murugadoss sir was there for some of the days and had given us valuable advice. 

Gautham Karthik
It was great working with Gautham Karthik and Sana. During the break, we used to indulge in Burmese cuisine. Gautham Karthik had to change totally for his role in the film as he is very fair. He used to come at 6 AM for a 9 AM shoot to get himself painted two shades darker.

Foreign Return song
The foreign return song is the opening song which is my wedding song. It has come out well and I am looking forward to its response. This is a kuthu number sung by Anirudh and choreographed by Sathish.

Have you signed any more films?
I have a few films with good characters that are coming my way. I would let you know once they get firmed up.

We wish you the best Upasana!

Jyothsna Bhavanishankar