Akhil love story shocked both dad and me: Chay

When I told dad about my relationship with Samantha, he was like, ‘I knew it long time ago and you are telling me now’
The actor talks about remaking ‘Premam,’ being a Nivin Pauly fan, sweetheart Samantha, marriage and future endeavours

In the hope of directing his favourite star Nagarjuna, director Chandoo Mondeti, fresh from the success of his maiden film, ‘Karthikeya,’ knocked the doors of the Southern Supremo with a ‘tailor-made script’ some time back last year. The super busy veteran couldn’t commit to the new talent but asked him to visit him after he directs another film. But little did Chandoo know that Naga Chaitanya would get hold of him.

While they both did discuss a couple of ideas to come together, Chay, as Chaitanya is fondly called, had to get back to his comfort zone and remake the Malayalam mega hit ‘Premam’ as his just release ‘Dohchay’ tanked at the box-office. “I like Chandoo’s style of filmmaking and he thinks out of the box. We wanted to collaborate for an original screenplay but as ‘Dohchay’ failed to do well, I thought it’s better to do what I’m best at love stories.

Around the same time, I happened to see ‘Premam’ and was blown away by it. I asked Chandoo whether he would remake it. He readily obliged,” Chay flashbacks. But the actor was sure that a frame-to-frame remake would do more harm than good, hence they tweaked the Malayalam script a bit and also shortened the running time. “We were sure from the beginning that we didn’t want to better the original.

I liked the soul of the original and the three phases of the lead actor and felt that most people will identify with it. So we altered the script a little to suit Telugu sensibilities. I assure you that it would be a different ‘Premam’,” he promises, admitting that the third love story with Madonna Sebastian will be different from that of the original. “The twist would be different to that of Malayalam one. Also, my character operates in a restaurant while Nivin Pauly was shown as running a bakery.”

Given how sentimental Malayalis are about Nivin’s performance in the original, Chay had a tough task ahead but he approached the character in his own way except for imitating the Kerala sensation for the college love story (the lecturer-student love track). “I’m a fan of Nivin Pauly and his performance in ‘Premam’ inspired me. I, especially, loved the way he went about the college romance chapter.

I’m not going to lie and say that I brought my own freshness to the table. I did imitate some of his expressions and attitude from the college love story. For the other two love stories, I brought in my own experiences,” Chay insists.

Besides receiving acclaim for the actor’s natural performances, the way it was narrated and music, ‘Premam’ had also received high praise for the way the sound was used, with many critics comparing it to another character in the film. What precautions did they take? “We just took the same sound,” Chay keeps it brief, smiling.

‘Premam’ apart, Chay has been in the news for his relationship with Samantha, who he is currently seeing. Even before the actress made the relationship public recently, the local media has written about them being an item. Ask him why it took so long for him to come out in the open and he says, “I generally come out only when I promote films.

I’m talking about the relationship because I’m asked about it now; else I would have kept it private because I like it that way.” It is the same reason why he chose to remain mum on social media despite constant quizzing from his fans. “It has been a policy with me to comment only about films on my social media.”

So, who was the first person from his family to be told about Sam? He informs that his friends knew about his love story but coming to family, he told his dad first. “When I told him, he was like, ‘I knew it long time ago and you are telling me now.’ Everybody in the family is happy with my decision. As far as marriage goes, it will happen next year. We haven’t decided on the date yet.”

Speaking about marriage, there were reports that he will have a Christian wedding followed by tying the knot according to Hindu tradition. Is it true? With a wide smile, he responds, “I’m fine with two weddings. It would mean double the celebrations.”

With his younger brother Akhil too slated to wed Shriya Bhupal, granddaughter of GVK Reddy, it must be a happy time in the Akkineni household? “Akhil news has come as a shock to both me and dad. It takes guts to marry at such a young age but he is happy about it. He will get married before me,” he points out.

‘Premam’ was to release after ‘Sahasam Swaasaga Saagipo’ (SSS) but due to reasons unknown, the Gautham Menon directorial’s release status is still uncertain. About it, he notes, “Tamil version (‘SSS’ was shot in Tamil too with Simbu) has a little work pending. Since we want to release both the versions on the same date, we are waiting for a good date.”

Samantha recently walked out of ‘Visaranai’ helmer Vetrimaaran’s ‘Vada Chennai,’ prompting many to cite her relationship with Chay as the reason behind her exit from the ‘bold’ film. Reacting to it, Chay clarifies, “I don’t know why she exited the film but I’m sure that it has nothing to do with the marriage. I’ll encourage her to do whatever she is comfortable with.”

Next up, Chay will be starring in two films one with ‘Soggade Chinni Nayana’ director Kalyan Krishna and the other with debutant Krishna. About the former, he shares, “It’s more of a romantic comedy with both city and village backdrop.” The former, says he, is an urban thriller. “I will be juggling between both the sets.”

Moving forward, he also wants to get into action mode, as he loves the genre. “I did attempt action films early in my career but somehow they didn’t click. May be I am yet to attain that maturity to do action films. But after I deliver two-three hits, I would definitely want to get back to the genre and do a realistic action film,” he ends.