I'm trekking my own path

Uday Shankar started his career with a small role in legendary director Dasari Narayana Rao's 'Young India.' Later, he acted in films like 'Power,' 'Lingaa' in small roles.

He realised that he needs to concentrate on content that suits him better than fancy hero subjects - (which he admitted himself), and is cleverly taking baby steps to become a box office hero.

In our conversation with him, we understood that he has a highly friendly and respectful attitude towards others. He is also jovial (cracked good jokes in our short conversation) and has a level-headed approach towards filmmaking. Here are the excerpts from our conversation about his new film 'Mismatch.'

How did 'Aatagadhara Shiva' changed you as a performer?

I always thought there is a necessity for an actor like me to choose wisely.

I can't pull off star-kids kind of launches and audiences won't be interested to watch if I try to ape them. So, I took a path that suits me more.

I am concentrating on content oriented films and scripts. 'Aatagadhara Shiva ' made even Chandra Siddhartha, my director a little bit nervous as I was playing a de-glamorised role and he did advise me to see if I really want to do it as my first film.

I wanted to prove myself as a performer and did it. (laughing) ... It did not require me to get into shape or look in a certain manner. So, I could just present myself as a character. I learnt to leave all the inhibitions behind.

How did 'Mismatch' happen?

I was looking for my next film script that will be ideal for me to explore as a new hero with a different plot with all entertainment values.

We zeroed in on two to three scripts from many before Bhupathi Raja sir came up with this story. With him NV Nirmal sir, our director came on board.

We liked the idea and developed the script into a honest love story with all elements that family audiences wish to see in a film.

How do you describe the film?

It is a 100% family entertainer like 'Geetha Govindam' which came one and half year ago. We will also entertain our audiences to such extent.

This is a love story between a tech savvy, urban guy who thinks before he speaks, very reserved and a wrestler girl, who wears heart on her sleeve.

Did your father G Sitaram ever give you any suggestions on story selection or movies

He is a man of great philosophy and writes mostly about the subject. So, he barely gets into film stories and discussion.

Once we have a story, screenplay - I definitely take his opinion about it. He tells how he felt about it and that's alll.

What did you learn from your experience in these 9 years in the industry

I understood one thing that we shouldn't try to swallow more than we can digest. I looked at the industry trends and learnt that if one knows their strengths then they really work on their weakness to emerge successful.

I know that I can't expect people to see me in roles like what stars pull off or expect to gain acceptance with my first film. I need to consistently give them a good film and improve my market as trustworthy entertainer.

'MisMatch' teaser was released in July but the movie took so much time to hit the screens. Why?

Well, we had a sweet, friendly yet busy star - Aishwarya Rajesh as lady lead and we waited for her dates to be adjusted for our film as she had major films like Mani Ratnam film in Tamil, while we were shooting.

For patch work, we needed to wait for almost 2 months for her dates.

But she never ill-treated anyone and was always encouraging towards me, even though I was a newbie - second film hero, compared to her 25 films experience.