Actor Suhasini Maniratnam — wife of director Mani Ratnam and niece of Kamal Haasan — has shared the screen with megastar Chiranjeevi in several films, including Manchu Pallaki (1982), Kirathakudu (1986), and Aradhana (1987). At the IFFI 2025 session titled The Luminary Icons: Creative Bonds and Fierce Performances on November 21, the actor opened up about feeling intimidated by him early in her career. She also revealed that Chiranjeevi had once asked her to “do better” during a scene, having only known her as a cameraperson before she became an actor.
‘The film set intimidated me’: Suhasini on her early years
During a discussion with Khushboo Sundar about what intimidates them on set, Suhasini recalled her early days working in large studio environments.“One thing that intimidates me is the typical film set, the Vijaya Vauhini set. It was scary, because they say silence and everybody goes silent, you don’t know what to do. You kind of forget and you become paralysed,” she said.“I was a cinematographer and I didn’t know acting — I learnt it slowly on the job.”
‘You are the heroine, not a junior artist’: Chiranjeevi corrected her
Suhasini remembered a moment from a Telugu film where she played a slightly comical role and had no dialogue in a scene involving six actors.“I was standing behind the chair, I had no dialogue. Every time somebody said something, I gave a reaction without saying anything,” she said.The subtle reactions, however, caught Chiranjeevi’s attention.“Suddenly, Chiranjeevi looked at me and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Acting’. He said, ‘You are the heroine of the film, you aren’t a junior artist’. Because usually, this is how the junior artists are taught — to react, not stand still. That is what you learn in commercial films.”
When Chiranjeevi couldn’t digest that his former crew member was now his heroine
To explain the concept of a “double take” in acting, Suhasini shared another anecdote from her first Telugu film.“I was supposed to be doing a rangoli. And then Chiranjeevi comes and stands, and I gradually look at him and say, ‘Oh, you are watching me’,” she said.She recalled how the actor struggled to adjust to her new position on screen, “He saw me as a camera assistant for a previous film. And now, the girl behind the camera was his heroine — he couldn’t even digest that. A girl who was putting reflector for him was his heroine, he even says that today.”
‘I am Kamal Haasan’s niece — you forgot that?’
Suhasini added with humour that her acting pedigree shouldn’t have been underestimated.“When we were doing the rehearsal, he came and said in my ear, ‘You can’t suddenly look at me, you have to look at me casually and say something’. I said, ‘I am Kamal Haasan’s niece, you forgot that? I grew up with an actor in my house’.”She went on to perform the scene naturally, which impressed Chiranjeevi. “He said, ‘Donga Pilla’, which means thief — he basically meant I know my job. That’s a delayed reaction, which is a part of double take,” she concluded.
