Adivi Sesh was born and brought up in the USA, but he has never missed out on celebrating Telugu traditions and festivals. “Vinayaka Chavithi is the most important festival in my family and we celebrate it every year. We might miss celebrating Sankranti or Deepavali at home but never the Vinayaka Chavithi puja,” says Adivi Sesh.
This year has been very special for him. His latest film Evaru, widely accepted by his fans and critics, was his career best in terms of box office returns. And Adivi, who claims that he only prays to God, and never asks for anything, says he wants to thank God for his latest film’s success. “During the Vinayaka puja, I usually keep the script of my upcoming film, but this year, I am keeping a hard disk of Evaru. It’s my way of thanking the Lord for giving me that glory,” he reveals. Adivi’s proficiency in Telugu despite having been born and brought up in the US has also got a Ganesha connect. “I learned a lot of Telugu from film DVDs and CDs, but from when I was 12 years old, my father would make me read the Vinayaka Vratha Kapla stories that were published in a book format, during Ganesh puja. Since then, I’ve been reading stories of Lord Ganesha every year on Ganesh Chaturthi,” reveals Adivi, adding that the Ganesha stories even went on to become his moral compass, helping him become a better person. He hopes that the present generation too would learn from these stories.
Nature is God
Adivi’s family, he says, has always used eco-friendly idols for the festival, either made of clay or mud. “We believe that nature is God and he created all this. So, when we make idols with mud or clay, they can easily get back into the earth when immersed in water. While idols made of plaster of paris with bright colours, takes thousands of years to decompose, when immersed, thus harming the environment,” says Adivi, imploring others to use clay ganeshas, too. This year at home, as has been the ritual for the last two years, Adivi’s mother has prepared the Ganesh idol with turmeric.
Prepping for his next, Major
All this talk of celebrations tempts us right back to congratulating Adivi again for Evaru’s performance at the box office. “Yes, it is the biggest success of my career; the box office collections have grossed more than my earlier film Goodachari in its third week itself. I am genuinely happy about this because my goal has always been to be better than not someone else but my own last Friday’s performance. So also, I hope my upcoming film beats Evaru. But that apart, I also hope that these successes help me keep bettering myself as an actor and that I get to do many more good films,” says the actor.
Now Adivi hopes to get on a strict diet for his next film Major in which he plays the martyred hero of 2008’s Mumbai terrorist attack, Major Sundeep Unnikrishnan. “Yes, Major Sundeep had a slim but fit body. I need to put myself through a rigorous regime of two workouts per day. I need a complete transformation, so I have to follow a strict diet and once the shooting starts, it’s going to get even more demanding for me,” says Adivi.
