Mumbai, Oct 3 Actress Rukmini Vasanth, who plays the role of Kankavati in “Kantara Chapter 1”, recently spoke to IANS in an exclusive conversation about her experience of portraying a warrior princess on screen.
When IANS asked her about her preparation for the period role, Rukmini highlighted that playing a 4th-century princess was very different from any of her earlier roles.
Talking about the required extensive physical and emotional preparation, Rukmini said, “To begin with, there were obviously a lot of vibrations. I think it starts right down from your body language. Body language is something that you do to prepare for any kind of role, whether you are playing a princess or whether you are playing a college student in the 2000s or whether you are playing a princess from the 4th century. Body language is an integral part because it makes or breaks the way that you present on screen.”
She added, “I think I did four or five days of a workshop with the writers of the film before we started shooting just in order to sort of crack the princess's essence, which was fun. So, we sort of worked a lot on how you hold yourself, on how you walk, and on how you look at people. So, that was all in terms of the body language of it. And then, other than that, we had horse-riding lessons, which was great fun.”
Rukmini also elaborated on other strengthening lessons and said “We also had sword-fighting lessons just to sort of crack that body language – a more active body language as opposed to just walking or standing in some place. And then there's all the bare minimum, like the emotional prep of a scene.”
She added, “Emotional preparations for the dialogues, for the context that that character is in. So, it was really multifaceted, including dancing and everything else."
Rukmini expressed that all the experiences she had for prepping up for Kantara Chapter 1 are something that an actor always craves. "Horse-riding, sword fighting, body language lessons, dancing based on traditions from that era, etc. – all of it was a great deal! There were even more skills that I had to acquire in order to play this role.”
She elaborated. “That's the dream, you know! I mean, you want to kind of have this opportunity to explore all these different things, and I am so grateful!"
“Kantara Chapter 1”, the prequel to the 2022 blockbuster “Kantara”, released on October 2, 2025. Directed by Rishabh Shetty, the film has been receiving strong responses from both audiences and critics alike.
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