The girl next door

During a chat with expresso, the effervescent and bubbly Anu Hassan came across as a down to earth, no hassles kind of person. That perhaps explains her appeal to the audience who consider her as one of their own

It seems Anu Hassan does not like to hold back any punches. Hailing from an illustrious family of cine artistes, she has the courage to disregard the rules even while talking to the media, some­thing rare to find in filmdom.

When we ask her who her main critics are, pat comes her reply, leaving us blink­ing in surprise at her refreshing candour. “The entire state is. I always get brick­bats for the I way dress and the jewellery that I wear,” she laughs.

She agrees that this openness some­times lands her in trouble. “What I’m in the front of the camera is what I’m at home. I’m short tempered and incompe­tency turns me off. I have never hidden these negative aspects of mine from the public,” she discloses.

Anuradha Chandra Hassan was here in the city on Monday to announce the first winner of ‘Hamam Grihapravesham Offer 2010’. When expresso met her, she was busy coordinating with the organis­ers, helping them conduct the function smoothly! But doesn’t the criticism affect her celebrity status? “See, I do not see myself as a celebrity. I’m just another well known person. My audience has al­ways seen me as the girl next door,” she says, and narrates an interesting anec­dote. “I was attending a function with another actress. Suddenly a lady came and asked her (the other actress) for an autograph while I sat there quietly ob­serving them. After getting her auto­graph, the lady came to me and suddenly pulled my cheeks and said ‘nee namba ponne thane’! I was surprised and my joy knew no bounds. Of all the compliments that I have received so far, that was defi­nitely the best,” she recounts.

Anu remarks that anything new ex­cites her. The first love of this Trichi girl was without doubt basketball. She repre­sented Trichi district as a student of St Joseph’s Anglo Indian School and con­tinued her dribbling even at the fibre­glass basketball co urt at BITS Pilani.

A dual degree in Physics-Management from BITS does not mean that she is a nerd, she insists. “Of course, I did well in school and college. However, most of the time, I was playing basketball, acting in plays or singing,” she divulges. “BITS taught me a lot. Unlike other colleges, attendance is not compulsory there. This teaches you to stay focussed and set your priorities right. Students become more responsible and attend classes out of their own will,” she explains.

Once out of college, Suhasini Mani Ratnam asked her to take up the lead role in the movie ‘Indira’ (1995). The state government appreciated her talent by bestowing the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for the Best Supporting Actress for the movie ‘Run’ in 2002.

She says that her willingness to try out new things pushed her to take up the of­fer to anchor a talk show ‘Coffee with Anu’ which is still continuing in its third season. “I make sure my guests were the celebrities and not me,” she spills out her success mantra.

A Jazz singer and an adventure sport freak, she now runs a chain of juices and smoothies company, ‘Squash’d’ run by a group of women employees, mostly from economically deprived families.

Anuradha says that she loves being in Coimbatore as “no one else can treat guests better than the people here”. Re­vealing that her best friend Poorni lives here in the city, she says that Kovaiites are more courteous and that there is a polished sheen to their mannerisms. “The driver who dropped me here today called me ‘akka’ instead of madam and I liked that very much,” she reveals.

Once the interview was over, she was mobbed by her fans. When we saw her asking them “Photo edukanama? vaa..”, we were bowled over by her obvious warmth and affection for them.

_Anula Aboobacker

tniecbe@expressbuzz.com

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