Priyamani: Must’ve done something right that they hate me

Priyamani

In April, we saw her as the supportive wife in Maidaan, and soon, we'll see her as a contract killer. That's quite a turnaround. Tell Priyamani that, and she grins, saying, "As an actor, you need to display versatility." She is gearing up for the release of Quotation Gang, which offers a gritty take on the lives of contract killers. The actor plays a ruthless gang leader in producer-director Vivek Kumar Kannan's crime drama, also starring Jackie Shroff and Sunny Leone. It's certainly a dark character after her positive parts in Maidaan and Article 370, but Priyamani is not one to segregate her roles. "For me, it's just a role and I can switch on and off, unless the director wants me to do homework on it. I am glad that with Quotation Gang, people can see another side of me after the positive characters that I played earlier."

A still from The Family Man

Black, grey, white - the National Award winner enjoys stepping into disparate roles. What she finds challenging, however, is being part of movies inspired by real-life events. "Films that are a part of history like Article 370 and Maidaan are more challenging to do. These are incidents that have happened. So, it's an added responsibility to tell them to the audience sensitively," she reasons.

Last week, she began shooting The Family Man's third season. After the second edition streamed, Priyamani - who plays Manoj Bajpayee's on-screen wife Suchitra - reveals that she received hate mail from fans, who felt her character betrayed her husband. "I must have done something right for them to hate me," she smiles, before adding, "Suchitra is doing what she feels is right for her. In the second season, she balanced her family with her career while trying to save her marriage. People will relate to her more in the next edition."