Great relief just to be an actor in ‘Family Drama’: Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy

Bengaluru, Jul 25 (PTI) With just a day to go for her next Kannada release, ‘Family Drama’, Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, whose debut directorial venture ‘Achar & Co’ became a surprise hit of 2023, said it was a ‘great relief’ just to be an actor this time round.

“I could be more focused on my performance and, you know, making sure that I am in tune with my co actors. When I was also directing, I had to run like 10 departments in my head at the same time, trying to align everything. So, it definitely felt a lot lighter to just be acting,” Murthy told PTI.

‘Family Drama’, directed by debutante H P Akarsh, said Murthy, is a dark comedy, slated for all-India release on July 26.

“I think the audience can expect to have a lot of fun because the film is all about the humour that one finds in unlikely places and in unlikely themes. At the end of the day, it’s a comedy film. It’s about seemingly regular and ordinary people setting out to do something so bizarre and all the foolishness that they come up with during that process, resulting in a comedy of errors,” said Murthy.

Murthy is supported by a crew of mostly newcomers, Abhay, Poornachandra Mysore, Ananya Amar, Rekha Kudligi, Aashith, Mahadev Hadapad, Malathesha, Veeresh, Arun Murthy, and Suraj Ravikiran.

Murthy said she met the director when she was shooting a documentary for him.

“I was completely sold when I heard the storyline,” she added.

“All characters are extremely quirky and the female characters are far from the stereotypical ones that are written. The film revolves around a family – mother, son and daughter – all of them scheming to kill someone. Now, how often does that happen in real life, right?”

It is not easy to deal with a dark comedy, like finding humour in murder, said Murthy. But since she knew the director, she said she knew if anyone could, it was Akarsh.

“Akarsh was so clear about what he wanted that I thought it would be exciting to work with like-minded people,” she said.

But make no mistake, Murthy wants to build on the success of ‘Achar & Co’ in her next directorial venture.

“I am, of course, very eager to get back on the floor as director soon,” said Murthy.