Boney and Sridevi Kapoor’s daughter Janhvi Kapoor made her debut in the movies with ‘Dhadak’ and then followed it up with films like ‘Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl’, ‘Roohi’ and ‘Mili’. She is now all set to mark her debut in the Telugu industry with ‘Devara: Part 1’ opposite Jr NTR, the film also stars Saif Ali Khan as the antagonist. In the latest episode of Koffee with Karan, she opened up about her experience of working in the South.

She said, “It’s a lot of fun. I am having a blast. I think I have gotten to a point where, after doing all these films wherein I am dying in a freezer, dislocating my shoulder, or acting with a rat, I realise I am allowing myself to do what comes naturally to me which is like nautanki, dialoguebaazi, dancing, and just having fun. And doing the kind of roles I have grown up enjoying and loving. I am finally getting to do all in this film. I think I am going easier on myself and allowing myself to enjoy it. I think this is the perfect film to be able to do that.”
Drawing parallels between her situation in the Telugu film industry and Sridevi’s experience in Bollywood, Janhvi said “It is quite ironic, because when she started doing Hindi films, she didn’t know the language, and they called her a ‘parrot’. She would hear the dialogue and repeat it, and she was very good at it. She kind of felt alien in that environment, and I am going to Telugu cinema. I don’t know the language at all, and I am only phonetically familiar with Tamil. I record my dialogues, and my DOP Randy (Rathnavelu) calls me a ‘tape recorder’. So, I feel like I now have an understanding of what she did and it feels like home. Even before the film, I think they accepted me with open arms and so much love. Even on the sets, it feels like a big warm hug.”