How Tara, the mother in demand, lends variety to each role

Playing varied roles such as a heroine, a girl-next-door, a beloved, a wife, and a friend, Tara has enjoyed a fulfilling career so far. Known for winning the National Award for the Best Actress for Hasina, as well as playing titular characters in films like Hebbet Rammaka and Savitribai Phule, Tara is currently highly sought after to play primarily two kinds of roles — that of a mother and that of an officer. All the films she has in the pipeline have her playing one of these two characters.

“In Aadi Lakshmi Purana, I play Nirup Bhandari’s mother, who is very reactive and sensitive to everything happening in the family. I also play a protective mother to Chiranjeevi Sarja in Sinnga, and my character’s only agenda is to see him happy. Then, there is the Srjun Lokesh-starrer Ellidde Elli Tanaka, in which I play an NRI mother who is quite broad-minded,” says Tara.

“I have become the mother of all actors on screen,” she chuckles, adding, “Having said that, there is a variety even for this one character.”

In Pogaru, Parvathammana Maga and an untitled project directed by Shiva Tejas, on the other hand, she will be seen as an official. The senior actor now hopes to play some other character on screen, and have some variety in her career. Talking about how she was never hungry to play heroine, and would take up roles even if they involved one or two scenes, Tara adds, “My aim back then and now has been that my characters should get into the viewers’ hearts. This has perhaps helped me do various roles.”

The 500-films-old actor has no regrets. “If I was only a heroine, my career would probably have faded long ago. But a variety of roles has kept acting alive in me. However, I do feel that I should not limit myself to doing just the roles of a mother or officer,” she says.