Shriya Saran opens up on lead roles for actresses over 35: 'Cinema isn't just about girl falling for a boy' | Exclusive

Shriya Saran has been around in the film industry for over two decades now. The actresses has played lead roles in a wide variety of films in several languages for 20 years now. And despite being over 40, she continues to do so. In a recent interaction with DNA, Shriya opened up about actresses’ increased ‘shelf life’ and why it’s necessary for films to release in theatres.

Shriya is currently starring in the multilingual family entertainer Music School, which released in theatres in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu on May 12. Talking about smaller films releasing in theatres, she says, “There was a time when they said only larger than life films will do well in theatre. But after Drishyam 2, I think it’s about the experience you get in the theatre. You watch films with people you don’t know, yet you clap together, laugh together and become a family. That’s what watching a film in theatre does.” The actress maintains that a film’s genre or scale does not determines its chances of success. “If it’s a good story and if it’s a good film, it will do well. Over the last few months, that has been proven,” she adds.

Shriya admits that Covid-19 pandemic and the boom of streaming platforms has changed cinema and audience’s choices. She elaborates, “I feel after Covid, we are trying to figure out what OTT has done. It has changed people immensely. You are exposed to content from around the world, which is great because people have nicer taste for content now. That is why content is king.”

At 40, Shriya is still doing leading roles, just like she was as a teenager in Ishtam and as a young woman in Awarapan and Pokkiri Raja. The actress attributes her longevity to better roles being written for women nowadays. She says, “I think that’s come with the audience and the writers, who are given a lot more importance now. For instance, in the Malayalam industry – and even Telugu and Kannada – the writers are stars too. When they come to narrate the story, the first thing they tell you is who the writer is.”

According to Shriya, the change in writing has reflected in change in characters on screen, where the concept of ‘heroine’ has also changed. “You are writing a different kind of a story these days and that’s reflecting in the films and characters as well. Cinema is not just about a girl falling in love with a boy. Often, it’s about what happens after. We are writing stories for women of all age groups,” she sums it up.