Nominated as the ‘Hottest model of 2015’ by Rediff.com and first runners-up for Kingfisher Calendar hunt 2012, Madhu Sneha was in town for a show when Yo!Vizag caught up with her.
She’s more than a fashion model or a performer who shot to fame with her performance in the song ‘Manohari’ of Bahubali. She’s an improv stand-up comedian too, the yin to Nitin Mirani’s yang, so to say.
How it all began?
‘I started working in 2010 as a fashion model in Mumbai, when auditions took me to doing ad films and soon, the desire to act in movies grew stronger in me. I can be seen in the ads for Renault Duster, have anchored a breakfast show on foodfood channel called Sunny Side Up (Season 1), have undergone theatre training and am now also working as a professional comedy stage improviser. My association with stand up comedy began with Nitin’s encouragement, when he thought that I had a natural knack for humour. I could actually make him laugh!’
The big break
‘I was looking for a break in my career when the offer for doing ‘Manohari’ in Bahubali came my way. I was told that it was a dance number for a South Indian film and that the director of the film was the director of Makhi. I took it up thoroughly excited about this being a Rajamouli film, and put in the hard work. There was a different energy on the set, I remember. And when the movie released, a friend of mine called from the US to say that she was proud of me and had seen me in the film. It was a proud moment and I felt that dreams do come true.’
Your off-stage persona
‘I’m a fun loving person, I look for fun, because that leads to positivity in everything I do. I love stand-up comedy because over the fun factor, I think it’s a great self-checking exercise, where jokes bomb, you fail and you constantly learn. I’m also the strongest believer of hard work. I believe that if you put in hard work, it will give you amazing rewards.’
‘I believe that you should either be the best or nothing. So I want to become the funniest and most successful stand-up comedian in India, I’d like to be known as the ‘fashionably funny’ person. I’d also like to do more cinema. Though, a lot of Telugu songs came my way, I feel that they’d limit me as I want to act in films. In fact, on Bahubali sets, Prabhas complimented saying that he saw potential in me. So, while I’m working on the film EXIT opposite Kunal Roy Kapoor, I’m looking forward to offers and to working with mega stars in Telugu cinema too.’
How do you like Vizag?
‘I loved Vizag and can’t stop talking about it. I think it’s gorgeous the way it’s done up. I’m really looking forward to do a holiday there.’
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