Long time since seeing a girl going pink? Just ask Vasundra ‘Why don’t you participate in the Miss World contest’ and wait for a moment. Roses blossom on her cheeks. She belongs to a Vaishnavite family from Bangalore and is trained and talented in Carnatic, Hindustani and Bharata Natyam. Unfortunately, she is popular only for songs like ‘katti pudi katti pudida’‘and ‘ayyo paththikichu…’ ‘I am disappointed at the tendency to brand me as best suited for such songs alone’ she adds with a tinge of remorse. Understandably!
‘Ok. Why then did you moan and purr and make all sorts of ‘suggestive’ sounds for the song ‘katti pudi katti pudida.’ The roses blossomed on her cheeks moments ago turn redder, now with anger. ‘It’s not me! I just rendered that song. All the other sounds were by some other artiste, recorded separately and mixed. This was done without my knowledge. I would not have accepted the assignment had I had the faintest idea that this would be the final product. At least they should have given the name of the other artiste. I just left it at that and forgot the whole thing.’
‘Have you spoken to director Surya about it?’ ‘No. What for? It is all over now and nothing can be reversed. Just drop it…’
Are you singing in Surya’s next film, ‘New’? ‘They have not called me. I don’t have an assignment for the movie.’
She sparkled as Mythili in 'Hey Ram'. However, she has not been around, on the screen for a long time after that. ‘I have been busy, singing,’ says Vasundara. I have so far sung for 17 Tamil films; 3 Telugu and 2 Hindi movies. I did an album, ‘Meri Jaan’ for Magna Sound. Really busy flying from Bangalore to Hyderabad and Bangalore to Mumbai.’
‘I have been receiving offers for roles in movies. But I want to be careful and choosy. I don’t want to be branded again that Vasundara can do only Hey Ram type roles – conventional and traditional. Presently I am acting with Ajit in Citizen. A really challenging role. I just love that role. Meantime, I acted in Monsoon Wedding, an English movie by Meera Nair.’
‘I have sung a couple of melody numbers for Samurai and Badri. Meri Jaan gave me a different kind of exposure with a lot of variety like symphony, western, Arabian and Latin American. Hope at least now the ‘katti pudi katti pudida’ branding goes!’
What is she doing now? Planning to bring out a video dance album. I need lots of male and female dancers for it.
‘I continue to be the happy-go-lucky girl that I have been, otherwise. Same old pastimes of college days and same old friends and all…’ She said bye with a big, sparkling parting smile.
-By Tamil MaganTr. by Hari Krishnan
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