“Entering a packed cinema hall of around 800 people, listening to them cheer and call me by my character name Nivi (Nivedita) has been both humbling and a validation of my choices,” says actor Sri Gouri Priya, taking in the appreciation for her Telugu film Chennai Love Story, which released on July 24. Taking time off for this interview before joining her team for a post-release event in Hyderabad, she says portraying the layered character was “physically and emotionally draining.”

In director Ravi Namburii’s Chennai Love Story, written and produced by Sai Rajesh, Gouri plays a woman who finds refuge in alcohol after being ghosted on her wedding day. The love story that blooms eventually also takes unexpected turns and emotional upheavals. 

Gouri agreed to do the film the very day the story was narrated to her, and began preparing soon after. “I am inquisitive. Beyond what’s in the script, I spoke to the director and Sai Rajesh garu to understand Nivedita’s psyche.” She was keen to know the character’s strengths and vulnerabilities so she could develop her body language and tone of speech. “All this helped the performance fall in place.” Gouri also pitched in with her perspectives on how the character is likely to react to situations.

The recognition Gouri is getting for Chennai Love Story can also be looked at as a major turning point in her career. Ever since she debuted in Telugu with Mail: Kambalapalli KathaluModern Love Chennai, she has mostly chosen characters that have a voice.

Growing up in Secunderabad, she often watched movies at single-screen theatres in RTC Cross Roads, amid an atmosphere of fan frenzy. “I enjoyed watching movies, but never planned to be in one.”

However, she participated in extracurricular activities in school, ranging from drama club to elocution contests. Noticing her interest in singing, her parents encouraged her to train in Carnatic music. “I loved the exposure I got through all these activities. I had no stage fear or inhibition.”

Gouri discovered that singing helped her express herself better. “Singers act with their voice, and I began to appreciate how voice modulation can help express varied moods, from happiness to pathos.”

While pursuing graduation in management studies at St. Francis College, Hyderabad, she participated and won the Miss Hyderabad title in 2018. And yet, cinema was not in her scheme of things.

Like several other students, she wanted to pursue a master’s programme in the United States. The pandemic changed the course of events. “The entire world had come to a pause, and it took time to understand what was happening.”

An opportunity to act came in the form of director Uday Gurrala’s Mail, produced by Swapna and Priyanka Dutt. “It was too good an opportunity to let go. They had faith in me, and it made me consider the opportunity seriously.”

In Tamil, Gouri was approached for Modern Love Chennai anthology (for the story Lalagunda Bommaigal directed by Raju Murugan) and the film Lover. Language was an area of concern but Gouri worked on it. “I had grown up speaking Telugu, English and some Hindi. The north Madras Tamil my character spoke in Modern Love Chennai was so different from the way Tamil was spoken on set. I picked up the language gradually; I can now speak and read Tamil and also listen to story narrations in the language. To date, people send me reels about my character in Lover and ask me why I left Arun (Manikandan’s character). That’s how much they like my work and I understood the enduring power of cinema.”

As opportunities came her way, Gouri was clear on the path ahead. “When I listen to a narration or read a script, I try removing the female character from the story. If the story doesn’t change, it implies that the character is dispensable and I do not take it up.”

She also made it a point to dub her own voice in both Telugu and Tamil.

Moving forward, she is keen to explore varied genres. “After Lover, I received more characters that were in the emotional zone. I wanted to explore humour, fantasy and drama, which is why I agreed to act in Happy Raj,” she says, referring to the GV Prakash Kumar starrer. In Telugu, she made her presence felt in Writer PadmabhushanMAD, among other films.

That said, she is acutely aware of film industries being largely hero-centric. “Within that space, I look for characters that are integral to the story. I am not in a rush to do a number of films within a short time. I want to be seen, but I am conscious of how I want to be seen. I’d rather be recognised as a performer.”

Published - July 29, 2026 02:55 pm IST