EXCLUSIVE: Former Miss Hyderabad Gouri Priya OPENS UP on how things have changed for beauty pageants now
Gouri recently in an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla also opened up about her recently released film Mail, her acting journey and more.
The Telugu feature film Mail, released recently and is now streaming on Aha. Directed by Uday Gurrala, the film is set into Kambalapally village in Mahabubabad district, Telangana and it tells the story about their day-to-day lives and dreams. With a simple story, Mail has managed to keep things realistic. Actress Gouri Priya Reddy, who is the part of the film recently in an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla opened up about her recently released film Mail, her acting journey, winning the Miss Hyderabad 2018 beauty pageant and more.
Sharing about why she decided to do this film, Gouri says, "Initially when I got my full narration for the first time, I was completely blown away by the way Mr Uday Gurrala; my director narrated the script to me. It kept me hooked throughout. And secondly, the movie itself had a lot of interesting aspects and it had subtle humour throughout. So that was another nice thing about the film. And thirdly obviously my characterization. Though it's not very long. I mean there is no long or lot of screen space or screen time but whenever I come in, I just come and go and it creates some sort of impact to the script. So that actually caught my eye. Because it's not about the quantity but it's about the quality. so it is a beautiful story. It has its own slow narration because its village backdrop movie and you know it just kicks in like a slow poison."
Telugu cinema, in fact, all the South Indian movies are getting far reach and across the languages. Speaking about it, Gouri says, "Telugu Cinema has been changing over the years because the way the actors and directors and the producers are picking the scripts and the way the audiences are receiving the script has completely changed and it is actually evolving day by day. So by this, the entire content and the quality of the output is changing and that is actually very eye-pleasing. So that is a big bone to the Telugu film industry and also the entire film industry as such."
The young actress is a big R Madhavan fan and finds him charming. Vijay Sethupathi is another South star that she can't wait to work with. Spilling the beans about her favourite actors, Gauri said, "My favourite actor is R. Madhavan because I find him very very charming. He has this amazing screen presence which lights up the entire movie. So he has been a lover boy, he has been a bad cop, has been a bad, I mean a strict teacher. So he can pull off any movie that’s what I feel, the ease and the charm that he has actually captivated me and another favourite is Vijay Sethupathi. He is intense, I just have nothing to say about him (chuckles). He is just super with whatever he does and he is so versatile and exceptional that is like … Amazing."
The former Miss Hyderabad also opened up on how things have changed for beauty pageants now. "Things have changed in the way the beauty pageants happen as well. Because again of the covid situation, everything is online. And at the same point, one thing I want to point out here is the height constraint that they had. I mean initially, I think it was 5’5 and above or something but now it's around 5’3 or something. That is a very very good initiative taken by the Miss India organisation because the average Indian woman height is around 5’4 or 5’3 or whatever you call it. But when there was a height limitation when only girls of height 5’5 and above could participate, the girls who are below that height are actually deprived of an opportunity. But now it has opened up opportunities for so many girls are there and it is a very very good thing. So I think, yeah, a lot of other things also keep changing and you know. We concentrate more on the person and their character and just not about the Beauty, it could actually be a beauty with brains, so yeah…"