karthika: In the eye of a storm

Karthika, daughter of yesteryear heroine Radha, is under the scanner after Simbu refused to act opposite her in K V Anand’s Ko! Simbu had done a photo shoot with the girl before opting out of the project just a few days prior to the film’s first schedule in China. However, the director has stood by his decision to retain Karthika. He has gone ahead with the shoot, replacing Simbu with Jiiva.

Anand is convinced Karthika has the ‘it’ factor in her to be a mainstream Tamil heroine. Says Anand, “When I signed Tamannaah as heroine opposite Suriya in Ayan, quite a few eyebrows were raised as she came with a string of flops behind her. But, I feel that if a girl has latent talent, she should be given a chance to prove herself, irrespective of her past record.”

Meanwhile, grapevine has it that negative talk on Karthika began when her first film — with Nagarjuna’s son Nag Chaitanya — in Telugu (Josh) received only a lukewarm response at the box-office. Additionally, Simbu became close to Nag Chaitanya during the making of his bilingual Gautham Menon’s Vinnaithandi Varuvaayaa, as Nag was doing Simbu’s role in the Telugu version. Simbu is said to have watched Josh and didn’t want to be paired with Karthika after that. However, Anand is confident about hisheroine and feels she will go places with Ko.

Ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan, who is debuting as hero opposite Karthika in Lenin Rajendran’s Malayalam film Makaramanju (based on the life of painter Raja Ravi Varma), springs to her defence and says, “Karthika is not only a very good dancer but a talented actress too. She’s photogenic and has supermodel looks, which will help her make it big in films.”

Meanwhile, the Mumbai-based Karthika, who bears a striking resemblance to her mother Radha, is maintaining a dignified silence. All that she is willing to say is, “My mother is my role model and I leave everything to her as far as selection of roles go. I’m sure she knows what’s best for me.”