‘Beauty pageants are more than just glamour’

Talking to DTNext, Chennai-based Akshara says, “I represented India and won the title among 22 participants from various countries.

There is always a misconception that beauty pageant is all about glamour and skin show. There is so much beyond that.” The actress says that it was in the “Pen downing round” she outmanoeuvred other contestants. “The question was on global warming in which an environmental activist was quoted. I immediately realised that it was Greta Thunberg and I won the round. In fact, I was shortest among all the other contestants,” she reveals.

Akshara Reddy says that representing the country has helped in moulding her personality and has made her more responsible as a person. “The competition took place for a week and we were given quite a few rigorous tasks which helped in analysing ourselves and how we remain calm and composed during a crisis. Meanwhile, we ensured that we looked good despite getting little under six hours of sleep every day,” she opens up.

On the film front, Akshara Reddy is awaiting the release of her Telugu and Kannada films in lead roles. “My upcoming Kannada film is titled Bill Gates, in which I play the role of an IT professional and has Shishir playing the lead. My Telugu film titled Dhaadi is a commercial entertainer that has Srikanth, Nasser and Ganesh Venkatram in pivotal roles. I play a college girl in the movie. Both these movies have me in substantial roles for me and I am glad that I have been getting good offers across the south,” the actress tells us. On a concluding note, Akshara says that she has listened to a couple of Tamil scripts as well. “I have listened to a few scripts. I will be signing on the projects,” Akshara says. There have been speculations that she will also be making her debut in the digital medium in Tamil as well. “Those are only rumours as my current focus is on feature films,” she concludes.