Background: Basically I am from Vijayawada. I am also a badminton player and was a probable for junior world cup team. I partnered Pullela Gopichand and was trained under Prakash Padukone (father of Deepika Padukone). My mother is also a sportsperson and she represented our district in Badminton. I was among the top 10 badminton players selected by SAI (Sports Authority of India) when I was 11 years old. I have completed my BE, GMT and MBA before venturing into garment manufacturing and exports. My family is into pesticides manufacturing and trading.
When did the acting bug bit you?
I am a huge fan of superstar Krishna when I was a kid. I always wanted to get into acting. But I didn’t express it with my parents as they might think that I am crazy. In those days, we had only two options - either go for engineering and or medicine. I feel that I am leading two lives. One life is before wedding and another life is after wedding. Getting into the family of superstar is like a dream. It was an arranged marriage. My wife knows about my interest in acting. It was a joint decision by me and my wife. She has put forward my intention to superstar Krishna. He has given me a go ahead. Then I told it to Manjula. I worked in the role of heroine’s brother in Ye Maya Chesave movie. When my wife told about my acting aspirations to Mahesh Babu, he was initially reluctant. He said that acting needs lot of groundwork, luck and skill sets. I started training in the same place at Padmalaya studios where a block was built initially for Mahesh Babu to stay. I have done a small show reel and shown into Namrata. She in turn passed it on to Mahesh Babu.
Mahesh Babu has seen it during the shooting of Dookudu and he was impressed since I had learnt so much in just six months. Then I have shown the proposal of SMS movie. Mahesh Babu has asked Seenu Vytla to go through the script. Seenu Vytla gave a few suggestions and we have incorporated those changes.
Tell us about SMS movie?
SMS is a short cut for ‘Siva Manasulo Sruthi’. It is a love story. The love in this story is generated out of a fight. There is no villain in this movie. Hero appears like a villan to heroine and vice versa. It is a sweet revenge story. Director Tatineni Satya is a friend of mine even before he directed Bheemili. My friend Vikram Raju is producing this movie. RB Chowdary of Super Good Films is presenting the movie.
What is your approach towards playing your character in SMS?
I tried doing as per the demand of situation. It was mostly casual approach because it’s a contemporary love story that doesn’t require heavy dramatics.
How is the support of Krishna and Mahesh Babu’s fans?
I must have met around 6000 superstar fans at personal level after started shooting for SMS film. Generally they visit Krishna first and then Mahesh Babu. After that they tend to interact with me. They are happy about me entering film industry. If you look at any film families, most of them had at least 3 heroes who are pursuing acting profession seriously. But for the superstar‘s family only Mahesh Babu’s movies are there. Fans are looking for more movies per year from the family of Krishna garu. I can fill the gap at certain level by doing story based films to start with. I am very glad that superstar’s fans are positive about my entry in films.
What kind of movies you would like to do at this point of your career?
I want to do different stories to start with. If I click at this level, I prefer to do much commercial films and increase the stake. Stardom will eventually come if your films impress the movie lovers.
When is SMS releasing?
The music of SMS will be launched on 15 January. The producer is planning to release the movie by the end of January 2012. Selva Ganesh who scored music for Bheemili and Pilla Zamindar composed music for SMS.
You have distributed films in the past?
Yes. I have distributed films for Nellore, Guntur and Vizag in the past. I have done six films and five out of six films were super hits (Arya, Ranam, Athanokkade, Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana and Bommarillu). I listened to the story of Arya before buying. All other films were bought with gut feel. Lots of people including Mahesh Babu asked me if I had good judgment or good luck. I told Mahesh that it was purely due to luck. I hope that the luck factor will continue in my acting profession as well.
What are your favorite films among Krishna and Mahesh Babu’s films?
Alluri Seetaramaraju is my all time favorite. My mother used to narrate an incident. In my childhood days, I used to say ‘agni. jamadagni’ whenever I was angry. Such was the fascination for the films of superstar.
Okkadu is my all time favorite among Mahesh Babu’s films. My second most favorite film is Khaleja, I still wonder why I didn’t create wonders at box office
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