Abhinaya defies destiny!!

19 year old Abhinaya is busy addressing media with the help of her parents, recieving calls in appreciation of her performance in her latest release at her residence in Tarnaka. Even the best of the face readers can’t even remotely guess that this beautiful actress can’t hear and speak.

Defying destiny, this city teenager who acted in Tamil blockbuster Nadidogal last year, has won critical acclaim for her performance in its Telugu remake with Ravi Teja, Siva Balaji and Priyamani in ‘Sambho Siva Sambho’ that released last week . Abhinaya, the latest poster girl in the city who is serving inspiration to many actresses, has bagged a role in another Tamil film that will hit the screens this July.Born physically challenged, this girl raised quite a few eyebrows with her acting skills in two movies is now touted as the brand ambassador for the hearing impaired kids in the country.


Schooled in Oral school for the deaf in Marredpally and then in Uma montesary in Padmarao nagar followed by St. Ann’s School in Tarnaka, Abhinaya grew up dreaming to be a star. Her dad Anand Varma an ex-service man dedicated his post service life to take care of her , took her to film studios, distributed her portfolios and made her a star.


“The first time I saw her in the hospital when she was born, I named her Abhinaya since I wanted her to be an actress one day. After a few months of her birth, we got to know she is deaf and therefore can’t talk too. We went to several doctors and hospitals but nothing worked. A few years ago, she underwent a cochlear implant surgery and can hear a few sounds. We shifted her from school for deaf to a regular school as doctors suggested us to do so. However, she cant hear what we speak even now. Since the childhood, she wanted to be in the glamour field. I used to take her to film shootings. She used to show us hoardings on the roads and tell us that one day she will be there and now she made it” says Abhinaya’s father Anand Varma who also acted as character artiste in several Tamil and Telugu films.

Movies happened to Abhinaya when Samuthirakani, director of ‘Nadodigal’ saw her pictures that were circulated by her father to a director from Kerala.
“Though Abhinaya’s pictures impressed him, they initially selected a Bombay model for the role. But that model told Samuthirakani that she can’t speak Tamil and won’t act in his film. So, he took it as a challenge and did a movie with a girl who can’t even talk and listen, leave alone Tamil. That movie has changed the life of Abhinaya”


Sweety as she is called at home who went to school till her VIIth standard, stopped as her stardom is disturbing the classes apart from the fact that she can’t decipher what is being taught in the class. Her parents are now planning to get her home tutorials to ensure she completes her Xth standard in open school.
“We joined her in the school so that she doesn’t miss friends and school life. Board also expemts such kids from languages in their exams and hence she just had subjects. But now that she has become an actress, kids from other classes come and see her every now and then. That apart, she can’t understand what is being taught in the class because of her disability and so she dropped with her VIIth standard”


When shooting, Abhinaya’s mom Hemalatha accompanies her and teaches her the dialogue lip movement, expressions, variations in scenes well in advance to ensure she gets the shot right.

“We are good friends and I teach her the lip movement and explain her the scenes. At the most, she finishes the scene in two takes. She can’t hear the lyrics but she can hear the beats and dances to it .She imitates every one on the sets and is mingles with people very fast .She watches films with her elder brothers. She likes Tamil star Surya, Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan. We feel since God didn’t give this girl the ability to talk and hear, he gave her supernatural talent of acting” says Hemalatha, mother of Abhinaya with tears in her eyes.


Since Abhinaya can’t hear and talk, I got her mom to ask her what she aspires to do in life ?“I want to keep acting in movies. I will continue to act as long as I can” is all she conveys through her mom with a smile as beautiful as her.