I'm single: Priya Anand

Her releases in Tamil — Vaamanan and Pugaippadam — failed to click at the box-office and Priya Anand is feeling the jitters, even as she awaits the release of her Jayendra-directed 180. The actress seems to be feeling the heat as she needs a hit badly in Tamil to establish herself as a saleable star. In fact, she is more popular in Telugu where she has done the Sekhar Kammula hit Leader opposite Rana Daggabuti.

The actress knows that she has to take the glam route in order to succeed in the south. Industry experts state that Priya has that essential glamour factor to succeed at the BO. The haunting romantic duet Edho Saigirai... (Vaamanan), composed by Yuvan and picturised on Priya and Jai, went on to become a rage in TV channels and gave her a big reach among mass audiences.

Priya Anand confessed to CT, "180 is my re-entry to Tamil cinema. I'm a Chennai ponnu... So it feels like a homecoming for me. I want to be accepted by our audiences, which I feel is a must for an actress to be recognized." Priya says she does not come from a filmi family nor did she have the support of any godfather in the industry.

In a way, 180 is very important in her life as it will help her get the elusive box-office stamp of approval. Says Priya, "I'm confident that my character, Renu, will strike a chord with audiences. The character represents real-time emotions and comes across as a slice of life. Director Jayendra is a genius and has ensured that the entire movie is character-driven. Even though the film revolves around Siddharth, Jayendra has given importance to the female characters played by Nithya and me."

About her co-stars in the fim, she says, "All of us (Sid, Nithya and me) enjoyed working on this project. I share a terrific rapport with Nithya and both our characters are lovable on screen." Priya's major plus point is that she has dubbed for both the Tamil and Telugu versions of the film. "I feel an actress should use her own voice as that brings life into the character," she says.

Ask her about her personal life and she says, "I'm single and totally focussed on work. I don't smoke, I don't drink. I don't go to pubs as I hate loud music. During my spare time, I just chill out watching movies at my favourite multiplex in Chennai. Well, that's me."

I'm single: Priya Anand