the actor seems to have got his priorities right. After having impressed audiences with his fine performance in the Telugu blockbuster Maghadheera, the actor has now set his sights on Kollywood, where he has made his debut with a powerful role in Vijay’s Sura. CT catches up with the actor for a one-on-one…
ON MAGHADHEERA… I’ve played the role of a 45-year-old politician in the movie. It’s a powerful role where I’m pitted against a big star. So, that was a big challenge. I had never seen Vijay’s films before. But after I got a call from him, I must have watched around 20 films of his in six days. The reason I did that was because as an actor, I wanted to understand what my hero was, so that I could give an appropriate performance. Vijay was more like a brother to me on the sets. Many times, when I had to do aggressive scenes in which I had to look at his eyes and scream, he used to say ‘you are so powerful. You don’t have to shout.”
After
Maghadheera,
which was one of the biggest movies in AP, I wanted to take things a little easy. I didn’t want to select the wrong films. I’m not a star son and I want to learn from all the big stars in the industry. All I wanted was some time and it was during this period that Vijay had asked S P Rajkumar to speak to me about being a part of Sura. I said ‘yes’ to it because I wanted to make the same kind of mark as I had made in Tollywood. I knew that after a big film like Maghadheera, a second big film like that of Vijay’s 50th would help
me make my mark here as well.
ON SURA…
The way I landed the role is interesting. Director S S Rajamouli, who was looking for a villain for the film, was conducting auditions. When I went to visit him, I realised that over 600 people had turned up. He told me that I had been selected and then, all that Rajamouli said was this, “I want a guy who has two sides — a good side and a ruthless side.” Believe me, I never knew that I had this other side in me. I was always considered to be a good-looking, clean-shaven boy. But because of Rajamouli, who is like an institution, I could get into the skin of the character.
FROM TOLLYWOOD TO KOLLYWOOD…
On a mission
FUTURE TAMIL PROJECTS…
m a nig a n d a n.k r @ tim e s g r o u p.c o m
