Tollywood’s Mass Media Actress

While not too long ago tinsel-towners taking a shine for hard-hitting journalist roles was the fad, now the trend seems to have reversed with those with a media background settling down for a filmi career. That's exactly what bubbly Nithya Menen, stylish Priya Anand and Bengali Babe Shraddha Das have opted for. 

If Nithya Menen, who played a photo journalist in "180", sounds too candid at times, then perhaps you can blame it on the fact that she studied journalism. The actress, who does not believe in beating around the bush, in her forthright style had gone on record to tell us why she chose not to take up journalism as a career. "Journalism is not what it used to be. I thought it was an important job, but it is not. I'm idealistic and it pretty much upsets me that negativity sells. I knew a job like that would lead to a lot of conflicts because of the way I amand I wouldn't last long!" she says. 

Then does she really get to do what she wants to in films? "More than being an actress, I wanted to make films so that I could say what I wanted to through the medium. Actually, I almost turned down "Ala Modalaindi" because I wanted to learn cinematography at FTI Pune. Nandu (Nandini Reddy) brainwashed me into doing the film. Now I have no regrets," she adds. 

While that's Nithya's viewpoint, Priya Anand, a Communication and Journalism graduate from the University of Albany, who also played a journalist in her debut film "Leader" looks at things in a totally different way. "I think journalism, films and all other media go hand-in-hand. I always wanted to get into films and I studied journalism to get to know the technical aspects of production. I also worked as an assistant director for a TV channel. My education has helped me handle all kinds of people and to present myself in a better way." 

Actress Shraddha Das, whose last T-town outing was "Nagavalli", holds a degree in Mass Media and Journalism. Shraddha feels that her education stands her in good stead in a tinsel world where actresses have a short shelf life. "Journalism is my Plan B. I took up the course after I had joined films as I was interested in it and it is a related field. In the glam world, nothing lasts forever and after my marriage I do not want to do films. I'd love to be an anchor or a news reader."