My mother is my biggest critic: Nikhil

Riding high on the success of his last release ‘Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada’, young actor Nikhil Siddhartha describes his new release ‘Keshava’ as a dark and stylish revenge drama. Nikhil speaks to our Correspondent Sridhar Adivi about the film and his career.

Q. You have attempted the ‘action’ genre with ‘Keshava’. How confident are you?
A. I would categorise ‘Keshava’ as a dark, serious and stylish revenge drama. Yes, I have attempted something new with this film and I am eagerly awaiting the response of the viewers. My only concern is that ‘Baahubali 2’ is still going strong at the box-office. Apart from that, I am pretty upbeat about the prospects of the film

Q. You have completed 10 years in the industry, how does it feel?
A. It feels great and I consider myself extremely lucky and blessed. Honestly, I never expected to get this far where I would be able to carry an entire film on my shoulders. ‘Keshava’ is releasing in more than 600 theatres and I am glad about it.

Q. Now that you have become a bankable star, is marriage on the cards? Are you seeing someone currently?
A. My parents do want me to get married immediately. I tell them I would get hitched after a particular film and would then postpone it to the film after that. As to your other question, no, I am not seeing anyone.

Q. Looking back, what mistakes did you commit on account of being a new-comer with no ‘godfather’ to support you in the industry?
A: After ‘Yuvatha’ became a success, I fell into the image trap and did three-four similar kinds of movies which didn’t interest the audience. Maybe, if I had someone to guide me at that point in time, I wouldn’t have taken that step. So, it’s been a learning curve for me. Those mistakes made me realise the importance of doing different kinds of films. These 10 years, I’ve realised that the most important thing for an actor is respect and goodwill from the public and that is possible only when you do good films.

Q. Given the success of your recent films, one would have expected you to be working with top directors and graduate to the big league. But you are still working with newcomers?
A. We have around 4-5 big directors and they are very busy with their commitments. If I wait for a project with them to happen, I would have lost out on all the good films which I’ve done and which I’ve signed now. As long as the script is good and the films do well, I’m happy. Besides, new directors also bring a fresh perspective to filmmaking in terms of script and technical values.

Q. Who do you rely on for advice in selecting scripts ? Who is your biggest critic?
A. I take the final decision myself. I do discuss the script with my immediate family. As for my biggest critic, it’s my mother. She’s always bang on with her predictions about my roles and films. She said ‘Keshava’ was like a Hollywood film in terms of style and I’m absolutely thrilled.