I’m glad to establish myself in different regions: Reba Monica John on taking up Ratnan Prapancha

Although drama, theatre or acting never crossed her mind, fate had other plans for Reba Monica John. After establishing herself in Tamil and Malayalam cinema, Reba is gearing up to make her mark in Kannada now. The self-confessed true blue Bengaluru hudugi had been part of a reality show, and was the face of popular commercial ads, before her film career took off with the Malayalam film, Jacobinte Swargarajyam, in which she starred opposite Nivin Pauly.

She later made her mark in Tamil films as well with Vijay's latest film, Bigil, getting her a lot of recognition. While her Kannada debut with Jacob Verghese’s directorial Sakalakala Vallabha, starring Rishi, is yet to see release, Reba has bagged her second Kannada project, Ratnan Prapancha. The film, directed by Rohit Padaki, is the first production venture of KRG Studios, and has her paired opposite actor Dhananjay.  An official announcement about the project took place at the film’s formal launch on Monday.

Reba, who is happy to have her foot in more than one Indian film industry, is looking forward to winning over the Kannada audiences too. “Irrespective of the language I speak at home, I am glad to establish myself in three different regions,” says Reba, who is also in talks for a Telugu film.

However, she did not have acting or cinema on her mind when growing up. “My main aim during my education was always to get good grades. I used to dance and sing, but entering the film world was never on my mind. However, I took a chance when I got an offer opposite Nivin Pauly at a time when he was at his peak after the release of Premam. I wanted to give it a shot. If it hadn’t worked, I always had a backup, because I had my Masters degree. But right now, the story is different. It has been a lovely journey. With time, I have also realised that I have talent. And I work hard because, in the end, all that matters is good work.”

Reba was drawn towards Ratnan Prapancha, jointly produced by Karthik Gowda and Yogi G Raj, when she saw the film's first-look poster, and that happened even before she was approached for the project. “I just loved the look, and I felt the poster had a story, which was intriguing. Call it a coincidence, but I was approached by the team for the same project, and after a few rounds of discussions, it was finalised,” says the actor.

There were a couple of other factors that made her accept the film as well. “Ratnan Prapancha doesn’t come with a cliched story, or with typical characters. Moreover, the film is directed by Rohit Padaki, backed by a good production house, and has a brilliant technical team (music director B Ajaneesh Lokanath, and cinematographer Sreesha Kuduvalli). I look at these while choosing any project, and I am glad to have made a good choice,” she says.