Star kids-turned heroes have mixed luck

With Master Teja all set to make his debut as hero with an untitled film being produced by Bekkam Venugopal, the saga of child-artiste-turned-heroes is going on unabated in T-town.

“Teja proved his talent as a child artiste and aptly fits into the role of a lover boy in our upcoming film,” says Bekkam, unmindful of ‘mixed’ luck for Teja’s ilk. Even though, Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR and Allu Arjun debuted as child actors, they cannot be compared with non-lineage kids.

“Kids of lineage families have a clear edge over children from non-filmi families, so drawing parellels between them is unfair,’ says director Gunasekar, who directed Jr NTR in kiddie flick ‘Bala Ramayanam’.

“NTR was a bundle of talent and grasped our instructions faster and did a commendable job as mighty Lord Rama. I wasn’t surprised when he attained superstardom at early 20’s since he was a born star, as I could discover the spark in him,’ he adds.

Whereas, other kid stars like Tanish who impressed in ‘Manmadudu’, Baladitya in `Little Soldier’, Raj Polavarapu in ‘Govinda Govinda’ and Sureedu in ‘Chatrapati’, couldn’t become stars overnight and waiting for their turn for stardom.

“Tarun was a promising talent and became a star overnight with ‘Nuvve Kavali’. Firstly, if we introduce a popular star kid he has a better connect with audience if he plays a cute lover boy.

Tarun was one of the most successful star kid-turned heroes and could make a comeback as he is quite talented,’ says director Vijay Bhaskar, who introduced Tarun.

Another popular star kid was Akhil who debuted with ‘’Sisindri’ and carried lot of pressure when he turned hero with ‘Akhil’ but the over-the-top script disappointed Akkineni fans. “He is a good mix of good looks and talent and just needs one big hit, to turn things around in his favour,’ concludes director Samudra.