‘… Subramanyam’ gave me a lot of respect as an actor

Says Nani as he talks about the two-year low phase, ‘Yevade Subramanyam’ and its impact on him and why he has increased his pace

With ‘Bhale Bhale Magadivoy’, where he played an absent-minded Lakkaraju aka Lucky, opening to positive word-of-mouth and to 85 to 90 per cent occupancy all across, actor Nani’s stocks have gone up. The film will be his second success of the year following the decent run of ‘Yevade Subramanyam’.

However, to rewind a bit the actor had a rather rough 2013-14, with films like ‘Paisa’ and ‘Jenda Pai Kapiraju’ languishing in the labs for eternity and eventually going out like the briefest of candles at the box-office after release.

“I did 11 Telugu films, out of which nine were labeled as good films. So when you compare my success ratio with other heroes, it’s very high but with ‘Paisa’ and ‘Jenda Pai Kapiraju’ going through financial problems and consuming a lot of time to release, the damage was done.

But I never took the failures seriously,” he states, adding, “As far as I’m concerned I will fail the day when I won’t give my 100 per cent as an actor. That day I will be depressed more than the box-office failure and it even has power to send me into depression.”

In the industry for more than a decade, Nani now realised that things will not go according to plan. “If breaks are ought to come they will. Even if I want to shoot non-stop, there will be a situation where the industry, through some form, will give me a break.

But from here on, I want to ensure that my dates and shooting schedules are planned in a right away.” The suave actor, who started his career as an assistant director, insists that he never interferes in the vision of a director.

“My inputs are only limited to my performance. I would generally give the director —when it comes to a scene — three different ways of how I go about it. It’s up to him to pick the right one,” he avers.

The actor confides that ‘Yevade Subramanyam’, which received a cult status, could have been a better product. “Had we got more time for post-production it would have been a better product. Nonetheless, it gave me a lot of respect as an actor. I still get long mails from NRI’s, saying that ‘the film has changed their lives.’”

The film also had an impact on his life. “We shot in the Himalayas for 42 days completely cut away from the rest of the world as there was no phone or internet connectivity. We were 37 of us and we used to wait for the director to call pack-up so that everyone can be under one roof.

Because of this, I came to know about everyone’s story (of the unit) and vice-versa too. I can say that I am close to the light boy of ‘Yevade Subramanyam’ than what I am to my directors. We played games that we used to play when we were kids.

We indulged in so much fun that we used to wait for the evenings. Did I indulge in the same activities with my 200-odd friends in Hyderabad? No, I didn’t. “The experience was such that I’ve stopped using my phone regularly. I’m trying to be with myself more,” he shares.

The actor has upped his pace and almost completed 40 per cent shooting for his yet-to-be-titled next with Hanu Raghavapudi. He also his mentor Indraganti Mohana Krishna waiting for him.

“I was recently shooting for Hanu’s film at Lepakshi temple, Hindupur, when an elderly woman, who sells coconuts for survival, came up to me and said, ‘Ee nanna cinemalu ravatledhenti? Ala kudaradhu, tondaraga fastga cheyali’ (Why am I not getting to see your films? Please pick up your pace). I was like ‘amma baboi’,” recalls the actor who plays Balakrishna’s fan in Hanu’s flick.

By Nagaraj Goud