Shriya Saran takes tips from domestic help

“Mangla, will you make me a cup of coffee please? Thank you,” Shriya Saran interrupts the telephonic interview to speak with her maid. And you can’t help wondering if the politeness was due to the fact that Shriya’s playing the role of a nanny in Cooking With Stella. “Well, I’ve always been polite with my domestic help but yes, the movie did change my perception,” says the dusky beauty, “I recently went for a party to my friend’s place and a teenage boy was serving us. I was so disgusted, I almost walked out!” she states.

And guess what, the actress says she had her maid on her mind when she was approached for the role. “I sort of copied her when it comes to the dressing style, the clothes, the no make-up look and the short nails,” she says. The film, co-written by siblings Deepa Mehta and Dilip Mehta and directed by Dilip, also stars Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas and Don McKellar. “It’s a cute film about human relationships,” says Shriya, adding that she had a great time working with her co-stars.

And that’s the reason she gets a tad miffed when we suggest she could have had a problem with the other actors, specially Lisa and Seema, being promoted more for the film. “Please! There are just four of us in the film, where’s the chance of one or two being promoted more than the others?” she asks and adds, “During workshops, all of us bonded like family. If the film does well, then all of us will be happy.” Shriya has reason to be happy after all, as her film was received with a lot of enthusiasm at the Toronto Film Festival recently. “We got a standing ovation for the film and even the critics loved it,” she says happily. For the moment, the actress is in the process of shooting for a few Tamil films but is keen to be cast in Hindi films as well.

Shriya Saran on oath of silence!

Shriya Saran is on a sort of Mouna Vrath (Oath of silence) for the last few days.

She is doing Vipassana Meditation at a center near Mumbai. The technique is taught at 10-day residential courses.

Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation.

As per the brochure - Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body.

It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.

Shriya is attending the residential courses during which participants learn the basics of the method, and practice sufficiently to experience its beneficial results.

There are no charges for the courses - not even to cover the cost of food and accommodation. All expenses are met by donations from people who, having completed a course and experienced the benefits of Vipassana, wish to give others the opportunity to also benefit.

Shriya to debut in Malayalam?

After doing over 45 films in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and English with almost all top heroes, leading Shriya Saran has reportedly signed a Malayalam multi-starrer titled Pokkiri Raja opposite superstar Mammootty to be directed by Vysakh, a television anchor and associate of directors Johnny Antony and Joshy.

The buzz is that Shriya liked the script and they needed only 30 days call sheet from her. Shriya reportedly confirmed the news and said that she will start the shoot from January 2010.

Produced by Tomichchan Mulagupaadam under the banner of Mulagupaadam Films, Pokkiri Raja will be a mass masala action entertainer which has young Malayalam-Tamil actor Prithviraj playing the role of Mammootty's younger brother.

Shriya-Ravi lip kissing scene!

Mazhai the remake of the Telugu film Varsham has sizzling song sequence between Shriya and Jeyam Ravi. The scene is a dream sequence. The hero is an actor who plays in small roles. He and Shriya fall in love. The song begins in pouring rain. The scene starts with a lip to lip kiss between the lead. Shriya on the personal side is in love with a industrialist son. It might be bad news to some. The song lyrics starts with the lines Istanabul Rajakumari written by Vairamuthu.

Shriya Saran - The Real

Shriya Saran (born September 11, 1982) is an Indian film actress. She began her career acting in music videos, while also attending an acting studio to follow her dream to act. After her debut in 2001 with Ishtam, she gained Telugu cinema's attention in 2002 by playing the role of Bhanu in Santhosham, her first major hit. Following the film she appeared in several Telugu films with prominent actors, whilst, also making in-roads in Bollywood as well as the Tamil film industry. In 2007, Saran became a national figure after her performance alongside Rajinikanth in Sivaji: The Boss, after which she has signed several Bollywood, Kollywood and also a Hollywood film.

Saran performs predominantly in leading heroine roles in high-budget and major studio films, ranging from romantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers. Her most popular released films include Santhosham (2002), Tagore (2003),Sivaji: The Boss (2007) and Kanthaswamy (2009).


Shriya Saran’s one of the reigning queens of South Indian cinema, her face transforming from innocence to glamorous with remarkable ease. Language is no barrier to this actress as she continues to take on roles in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and English films.


Simply Shriya

Shriya was born in Dehradun on the 11th of September 1982. Her mother is Neeraja, a school teacher and her father is Pushpendra Saran, working with Bharat Heavy Metal Works. She has an older brother Abhiroop.


Shriya grew up in Ranipur. She studied at the Delhi Public School and acquired a B.A in Literature from Lady Sri Ram College. She is also a Kathak dancer and trained under Shobha Narayan.


She started out as a model, appearing in several commercials like Brookbond, Red Label, Lux and Head & Shoulders. She was also a part of music videos like Tirakthi Kyun Hawa by Reenu Nathan which was shot in Banaras.




Lighting Up The Screens

Shriya broke into movies with a Telugu movie Ishtam in 2001. Though the movie was not a success, the industry noticed her. This was followed by the 2002 film Santosham with Nagarjuna, which did extremely well. The other two films released the same year Nuvve Nuvve and Chennakeshava Reddy also did well. She got the opportunity to work with some of the major stars and came out with several hits like Tagore (2003) and Chatrapati (2005).



Her Tamil films like Ennaku 20 Unnaku 18 in 2003, Mazhai in 2005 were good performers at the box office. In 2007, she starred in Azhagiya Tamil Magan and she was cast opposite Rajnikanth in Shivaji: The Boss that was one of the biggest films ever made in India


Bollywood also has seen a Shriya with Tujhe Meri Kasam (2003), Thoda Hum Badlo Thoda Tum (2004), Awaarapan (2007) and Mission Istanbul (2008).





Up Ahead

Shriya has a mix of Tamil, Hindi and English scheduled to hit the theaters soon like Ek- The Power of One, Kanthaswamy, Jaggubhai, The Other End of the Line and What’s Cooking Stella?