Dhanyaa, who made her acting debut in last week's release, 18.05.2009, is thrilled with the reception to the film and her performance. "I am only a film old in the industry, but feel like I've already hit a century," she gushes. Like her director, she is relieved that their efforts have all paid off. "I'm really lucky to have been picked for the role from amongst the scores of new faces director Ganeshan had scouted. My eyes were apparently the decisive factor," she says.

Dhanyaa admits that she did not know much about the events that the film is based on. It was only when she dug into the script that reality dawned. "I was ashamed to have been ignorant till then and wasted no time in learning all the facts. Once I understood the magnitude of the sufferings of the Tamil people, I did not have to do any acting." 

She says everyone in the unit used to call her Selvi after the character she played. About the gruesome rape scene, Dhanyaa admits that shooting it was emotionally draining. "However, the director was considerate and we shot the scene in the presence of only a single camera and a woman assistant director. There was a thin line of cloth draped on me, not visible to the naked eye. It was aesthetically shot and I felt no uneasiness. The director's instruction was to treat it as a normal shot and somehow I managed it in one take."

On the day of the film's release, Dhanyaa received a call from an unknown number. "The caller said he was from London and gave me an earful about that scene. I told him that as an actor it is all in a day's work, but it fell on deaf ears."

Dhanyaa hopes to next try her hand at commercial cinema. "It will be a nice change," she says.