Nivetha Pethuraj is foraying into Telugu cinema with a romantic drama - Mental Madilo. She plays an independent girl named Swetha in the film directed by debutant Vivek Atreya. “I play a self-reliant girl with a pragmatic approach towards life in the film. I must say the way my role was conceived is really exciting. Seeing me on screen doesn’t make the audience feel that I've acted in the role.”

The former Miss India Dubai pageant winner is half Telugu and half Tamil. “My mother hails from Andhra Pradesh and my father is a Tamilian. I can comprehend the language well, but I couldn’t speak fluently. Although I tried to give my best, the makers weren’t convinced and felt they needed someone to dub for me." The actor is, however, honing her Telugu language skills and would like to dub for herself in the future.

About her co-star Sree Vishnu, Nivetha says, “Vishnu is calm and aloof. During the first four days of the shoot, we did many combination scenes without even exchanging a word. As the time passed by, we got along really well.”