Started from the bottom, look where she is now: Dushara Vijayan a successful model turned actress!

A casual fan girl dm got me to learn up and front about this stunning model’s road to success.

“Life is full of surprises and miracles” I heard it in a sensational movie and it seems so true, for I unexpectedly had a chance to Instagram-interview this illustrious Model turned actress, Dushara Vijayan. And here, she expounds on her journey to the big screen, persistence, life and her real passion.

Dushara Vijayan!

Born in Dindugul and brought up in Coimbatore, this Tamil girl has claimed her Limelight with utter determination and patience.

“I’ve always wanted to act”

says the 23 year old, when asked about her ‘not so flowery cruise’ to success. It took her 6 years to stand proud and content at where she is now and to be honest, who wouldn’t be?!! She gets on her road from Engineering to NIFT, Kannamma to Salpetta and from strives to thrive!

Like any other high school graduate, Dushara too was trapped into the typical Indian parent’s prospect. And just as to not disappoint them, she had joined B.E, Computer Science in PSG College of Engineering in Coimbatore.

“You know how conservative parents are,”

she explains and she almost playfully regrets having scored good marks in high school. As good grades owe to fact that made it difficult to even think of convincing her parents, to opt for any other streams than Engineering or Medicine. It is indeed a puzzling wonder that why people didn’t notice this ‘girl next-door’ kinda beauty with effortless talent earlier, but nothing to worry, because the girl’s on the top now!

“Yeah, I had to do Engineering for the sake of my parents,”

the fighter says and she had almost done Engineering for one and a half year. She felt that she had to do it for her parents. But soon she had a heavy heart as though she was living a ‘life of lie’ according to her conscience, her dreams and even felt like she had been deceiving her parents. And realised it was high time, that she really begin pursuing acting and finding a way to get on with it. “It wasn’t my thing, I’ve always wanted to act” she puts forth the drive that her passion gave her to quit Engineering once in for all to start pursuing her passion.

Her Modelling career

Dushara made out the pretty brilliant equation. And that was, she would first begin with modelling and then through her modelling profile; she would step into acting. And to be honest, this simple clarity of thought and unceasing persistence along the road has made that equation worth contemplating about. And it will be a worthwhile option for the aspiring models, isn’t it?

She agrees that she couldn’t come around the road without leaving her parents in despair, but she now has indeed made her entire family proud. She had been in home for around seven months after she quit Engineering and after, decided to join NIFT, Chennai to try her hand at modelling and, did that go well?!!

She had to take an entrance exam to join NIFT, Chennai and then was soon on the right journey. She says that she is grateful for her parents who, just for the sake of her passion, came along to Chennai and wholeheartedly stood the odds with her. But, it wasn’t easy to keep that trust alive, as it took her six whole years to reach this fame. But with her huge win as the ‘Miss Face of Chennai’ in 2017, she was able to get the recognition that she deserved,

“I was fortunate enough to win and that’s how everything started” she says.

Following the much deserved victory, she began ramp walking in inter and intra college fashion fests. She says that she started following famous models in Instagram and started to contact Fashion co-ordinators, seeking opportunities and says firmly, “I was very sure about what I wanted in life and it took me all the way here.”

It is obvious that Dushara has done immense hard work and had capitulating patience to reach here. But the girl’s got natural talent; be it modelling or acting. She had done modelling for two years but with a heavy heart. Though her career was fruitful given, immense opportunities that she got and yet, she felt that ‘Modelling’ wasn’t her cup of tea. And thus, she discontinued from NIFT. She was quite strong about the decision, since it did not bring her peace at the end of the day.

Becoming the actor that she always wanted to be!

Kannama was her first short film it was a thoroughly natural act from her. She remembers shooting Kannamma a year ago and adds that the success was unexpected. “The director is very talented, his name is Jagadeesh and DOP Arun, both of them are really talented. The director actually dmed me through Instagram and that’s how I got Kannamma” she says, when asked how Kannamma happened. She also agrees that the dialogues of Kannamma were so beautiful and that it made her not to think twice about the role. The film’s got over 2 Million views till now and is still counting.

She got to play her first lead in Bodhai Yeri Budhi Maari which was directed by Chandru and she paired opposite to Dheeraj in this movie. They had contacted her, on seeing her Instagarm posts and she went on the auditioning and remembers being said “You are the one for this film,” by the director. And they had begun the film’s Pooja the very next day. She adds that she surprisingly got to share screen space with Pradaini Surva, the famous model and Instagram influencer; who inspired her to begin modelling.

Her second movie was quite a challenge for her as it had dogs in it and she recalls, “I was not used to be comfortable with dogs around, I was so scared” and adds “And so I thought that the film would be challenging to do and went on training for it and finally now I’m so happy with dogs around.”

Having done two films with the scripts that she thought that had enough potential for her character, she was then awaiting the right script and it came from the Madras director, Pa. Ranjith for his film Sarpetta. The director had approached her on seeing her picture on Twitter. She had gone for both indoor and outdoor auditioning and was given the role with a stunning remark from the director himself that only she could do justice to the role, since the director expected ‘a natural and fearless performer’.

“Sarpetta is the actual debut for me. It is an important film in my life. I have wanted such scripts that would show how true of a performer I am. And I have always wanted to be a versatile actor and one such script is Sarpetta for me.”

she says and she gushes over Arya with whom she is paring opposite in the film and adds that she has had a huge crush on him in Madarasapatinam.

The filming of Sarpetta, which was at the final leg of shooting, seems to have been interrupted because of Corona lockdown.

How happy and content is she now?

“The biggest thing I’m really happy about now is, my parents, family, everyone are really supportive of the decisions that I made,” she say. She also adds that she did initially struggle but agrees that without those initial struggles one can’t achieve what she/he desires.

“I think the pain is all worth it, I’m happy; I’m really happy now” she says with so much pride and happiness.

What is her secret to have achieved what she wanted?

“One shouldn’t just give up on their dreams just for fact that someone’s asking you to. You have to stay brave, fearless and you’ve got to have strong hold on your passion and if you have that, you will definitely succeed” says the young actress, which is indeed unarguably true.

And this is the consequence of a casual Instagarm dm from a fan girl- turned Instagarm interview and I hope you found it interesting and inspiring!

Have a safe quarantine.

With love for black coffee and Inking,

Shilpa Veeramani.