She knows the Old City like the palm of her hand. Madhu Shalini takes us by surprise as she turns up at 6 am sharp at Madina Cafe, to catch up with us over a cup of Irani chai as promised.
"I have fond memories of this place," she reminisces... "My friends and I come here often for our breakfast. You get the best dosas in the city here," she says, leading us along patli gallis to a stall that does not even have a sign board, but is teeming with people. With the magnificent Charminar in the backdrop, the actress, who's now carved a niche for herself in Kollywood with " Avan Ivan" ("Vaadu Veedu"), walks down memory lane as she talks about her childhood, her career, her favorite haunts and the rich culture of the city.
In love with mana city
My dad is a Muslim, so Ramzan has always been a special family time for us at home with all my cousins meeting up. I love visiting the Old City during this time of the year. People think that only Muslims own shops here, but the fact is that there are a lot of Hindus too. It such a beautiful intermingling of cultures and you can see this mirrored in the city and in Hyderabadis from every walk of life. My favorite shopping spot here is the Chudi Bazaar. I make it a point to visit the place at least once a year. In fact, I pick up stuff from here for my friends who live abroad and also my colleagues. Just a couple of months back I picked up bangles for (director) Bala sir's wife.
Missing home
I have missed home badly the whole of last year. I was in the city for only 20 days as I was shooting in Chennai for "Avan Ivan". Working with National Award winning director Bala was like going to an acting school. I had to go de-glam for the role, but I do not regret it as the film turned out to be a super hit.
Right now, I am not doing any Telugu film as I am waiting for good scripts to come my way. There's been talk that I have bid goodbye to Tollywood and that's why I supported the Chennai Rhinos, but that's not true. I was the ambassador for the Chennai team because I was doing a Tamil film at that time and my co-stars Arya and Vishal were part of the team. For the record, even the Telugu Warriors' ambassador was not a Telugu girl!
Well, if everything goes well, I'm quite close to signing a big Bollywood film with a Telugu director!
Conserving our heritage
Every time I come to this part of the city, it pains me to see heritage buildings being neglected. The lack of civic sense among the people who disfigure monuments is appaling. While on my foreign jaunts, when I see the care with which ancient monuments are preserved, I feel that we too should be adopting their methods and creating awareness among the people. Sometime back, I read that the Charminar is going to be a 'pedestrian only' zone, but look, even this early in the morning the road is busy with traffic. We are a little too laidback, even when it comes to our heritage!
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