Ritu Varma on her upcoming collaborations with Vikram in Dhruva Natchathiram, Dulquer Salmaan in KKK

Actress Ritu Varma, who is currently busy with Chiyaan Vikram starrer  Dhruva Natchathiram  and Dulquer Salmaan starrer  Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal  in Kollywood_,_ shot to fame with the breakout indie hit Pelli Choopulu in Telugu cinema, where she co-starred with the Arjun Reddy sensation Vijay Deverakonda. Critics heaped praise on Ritu for waltzing through the role of Chitra with charming ease. [caption id=“attachment_3382724” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Ritu Varma as Samaya, India’s first real-time VR character[/caption] For someone who was part of a blockbuster film like Pelli Choopulu, Ritu rather had a low-key debut in K’town through a special cameo in Dhanush’s  _ Velai Illa Pattathari 2 _ directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth last year. “Though it was a cameo, it was a nice character and Dhanush is one of my favorite actors. So I thought it was a good opportunity and didn’t think much about it. I watched the first part Velai Illa Pattathaari and I liked it,” Ritu Varma tells Firstpost in this exclusive chat, adding that she was happy to work with Soundarya and Dhanush. Despite being part of three consecutive acclaimed films in Telugu (Yevade Subramanyam, Pelli Choopulu, and Keshava), Ritu Varma has not signed any new projects in the language. Ask her if she is being choosy about the kind of roles she would like to be seen associated with, Ritu says, “I’m not being choosy at all. I wanted to do different characters. It may sound like a cliche but for me, quality is more important than quantity. After Pelli Choopulu, I got many roles that were similar to Chitra. But a role has to excite and interest me. I got into acting by chance but that doesn’t mean I’m not passionate. I’m so passionate about acting and I’m so glad that I got into acting. I believe in destiny and I believe it’s the destiny that brought me here.” Ritu Varma’s association with south films began only after her college days. “I’m a movie buff and I grew up watching lots of Hindi films. Though I was born and raised in Hyderabad, my roots are from North. Even at home, we will be watching Hindi and Hollywood films only. It was after I entered college, I started watching Telugu films and after I set out for acting, I started watching Tamil films,” says Ritu, who earlier had a penchant for rom-coms before she started to watch all genres of films. In  Dhruva Natchathiram, Ritu Varma plays one of the female leads alongside Aishwarya Rajesh. But it was not the first film that Gautham approached her for. “I was initially approached by Gautham sir’s office to check if I’m interested in the Tamil remake of Pelli Choopulu. And one fine day, I got a call asking me to fly to Chennai for a look test. I had no idea about what film was that for. I was so excited about meeting Gautham sir because it’s any heroine’s dream to work with him. We did two look tests and Gautham sir asked me to perform something spontaneously and I then I got on board Dhruva Natchathiram.” After collaborating with the young crop of actors like Nani, Nikhil Siddharth and Vijay Deverakonda, Ritu will be seen sharing the screen space with a veteran like Chiyaan Vikram, who is 24 years elder than her, in _Dhruva Natchathiram. “_Vikram is the first superstar I’m working with. I was super nervous about meeting him. It was on the first day of our shoot I met him and he was absolutely simple and sweet to me. Who would miss the opportunity to work with him? He doesn’t look his age (laughs),” says Ritu, who is playing the role of Anupama in the film. Ritu has shot for Dhruva Natchathiram which is billed as an international spy thriller, in picturesque, snow-clad locations like Bulgaria and Georgia. “In Georgia, we shot an action sequence and I was also a part of it. In Bulgaria, the whole team was together. Though I don’t have combination scenes with any of the senior artists (Radhika Sarathkumar, Simran and Parthiepan are part of the film) except Vikram sir, I had met everyone.” Another project Ritu is thrilled about is her ongoing romantic thriller Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal helmed by debutant Desingh Periyasamy. “Even before we started to shoot for KKK, I heard a lot of nice things about Dulquer. When I worked with him, I could really witness how much a gentleman he was. He would help me with the translation and pronunciation and we would also pull each other’s legs on the sets,” says Ritu, who plays a modern yet traditional role in the film. “The entire team was young and dynamic, so it was more like a blast on the sets. Things are proceeding pretty fast and we have already shot 50 per cent of the project,” she says before signing off.