Atidhi to Super Subbu: Murali Sharma’s Enduring Appeal in Telugu

Life has a way of surprising Murali Sharma.

He says it with the ease of someone who has spent over three decades in cinema, but still pauses to admire how far he has come. Ask him about his journey and he does not begin with awards, blockbusters or the long list of stars he has worked with. Instead, he talks about gratitude.

“I have always believed gratitude gives rise to abundance,” he says with conviction. “Just do your work sincerely and honestly. Be good to the people around you. Try to be the best version of yourself. Be humble, be kind. Life is unbelievable because everything comes back to you,” he adds,

For Sharma, success has never been a destination. It has simply been the result of staying the course.

“When I look at my own life, I couldn’t have asked for more. From when I started in 1990 when I joined acting school to where I am today, it is almost exactly the life I had dreamt of. I couldn’t ask for more. You just keep working constantly. Money, fame, everything follows. That’s what I have understood. Do what you know best and everything else comes.”

That belief carried him through years when the dream seemed impossibly distant.

Before audiences recognised him as one of Indian cinema’s most dependable actors, Sharma travelled across Mumbai by bus, changed routes multiple times, skipped cups of tea to save a few rupees and took up odd jobs whenever acting assignments dried up.

Even today, those memories remain vivid. “I still ask my driver to slow down near certain bus stops. I tell him, ‘Wait, let me look at this place.’ I can actually see myself sitting there, wondering whether I should buy a cutting chai or save those two rupees so I wouldn’t have to walk after getting off one stop earlier.”

Fondly remembering those days, Murali Sharma says, “I always believed I would make it. Today people ask me how I did it. Honestly, I don’t know. It just happened. I have been fortunate,” he says, expressing gratitude.

However, his journey was anything but glamorous. “I started with radio plays with the late A.K. Hangal saab. Then there was amateur theatre, acting school, television and tiny roles in films. The journey made me humble and compassionate. I feel for people because I have lived through those days.”

Learning, he says, never stops. Even today, after hundreds of films across Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi cinema, Sharma insists he is still a student.

“When the director explains a scene, I tell him, ‘Please explain slowly. I am slow to understand.’ Then I ask five more questions. What happened before this? What happens after this? I keep asking because I want to understand.”

He credits his father for shaping that mindset. “He always said, ‘Be in the company of people who know more than you. Always lend thy ears.’ When you speak, you are only repeating what you already know. When you listen, you learn something new.”

His love affair with Telugu cinema began almost by chance. Director Surender Reddy had watched him in ‘Apaharan’ and ‘Black Friday’ before casting him opposite Mahesh Babu in ‘Atidhi’.

 

“In the first half, I was an honest police officer called Ajay Shastri. Then audiences discovered I was actually Kaiser. Even today people tell me, ‘Sir, you scared us so much as Kaiser.’ That’s how my Telugu journey began,” he says.

What followed was a remarkable association with an industry that embraced him wholeheartedly. He has since worked with several Tollywood actors including, Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, Chiranjeevi, Jr NTR, Prabhas, Venkatesh, Nagarjuna among others, but what stays with him is not their stardom.

 

“They are all so warm, so humble and so affectionate. If an actor isn’t shooting one day, I actually tell him the next day that I missed having him around. That’s how comfortable everyone makes you feel.”

Working alongside Chiranjeevi still feels surreal. “I dreamt that one day I might get to stand somewhere behind him as a constable in one scene. Today I am sitting next to him discussing his songs while he tells me stories about where they were shot. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is actually happening,” he says, talking about his upcoming film with the Tollywood megastar, whom he calls Annayya.

The same warmth, he says, extends to Mahesh Babu. “I have done ‘Atidhi’, ‘Sarileru Neekevvaru’ and ‘Guntur Kaaram’ with him. Every time we meet, there is genuine warmth,” he says.

With Allu Arjun too, the friendship has grown over multiple films. “We have worked together several times now. The actors tease me, joke with me and make me feel like family.”

Despite decades in cinema, Sharma still refuses to chase labels. Whether he plays a father, a police officer, a lawyer or a villain makes little difference to him. That is precisely what attracted him to Super Subbu, Netflix’s first Telugu original series.

 

“The first thing that caught my attention wasn’t even the story. It was the name Kukkuteswar Rao. I burst out laughing and said, ‘I’m doing this.’ What an interesting name!” he says.

As the narration unfolded, Sharma discovered a father who was strict, irritating, opinionated and endlessly entertaining. The response, he says, has been deeply satisfying.

“I'm very happy that audiences have accepted Kukku. Every day there are messages and calls,” he beams.

Away from film sets, Sharma’s pleasures remain refreshingly ordinary. He is a self-confessed tea enthusiast who carries his own induction stove, tea leaves, vessel and favourite mug wherever he travels. “Anywhere in the world, I always make my first cup of tea in the hotel," he says.

Food, too, comes with stories. Hyderabad, he says, tempts him with mirchi bajjis, Irani chai and tiny vegetable samosas. Those little moments, he says, are what make life beautiful.

For all the conversations around manifestations and affirmations today, Sharma believes people often miss one important step. “They hear these things, but they don’t apply them to their own lives. If you want miracles, you have to give your best and that things will follow.” He pauses before adding one final thought. “The first rule of success is never lie to yourself.”

It is advice he follows every evening after pack-up. If a performance keeps returning to his mind, he knows he has not given enough. “I will go back to the director the next day and ask if we can do those shots again. I don’t let things go. I give my hundred per cent. That is the best I know.”

Perhaps that explains why, after all these years, Murali Sharma still approaches every role with the curiosity of a newcomer and the gratitude of someone who remembers exactly where he began. For him, the dream was never about becoming a star. It was always about being remembered as a film actor. By that measure, he knows he is exactly where he always wanted to be.