Right into his second film, actor Viswant Duddumpudi has hit the jackpot with Manamantha. The movie, which is releasing in Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil, stars Mohanlal and Gautami.
As he prepares himself for the release of the movie on Friday, the excitement in his voice is evident. “Yes, I am very excited. I haven’t slept last night. I am waiting for the first show to know the reaction of the audience. I might be visiting single theatres to watch it. I did the same for my first film Kerintha too,” says Viswant adding, “I have been getting a lot of positive feedback since the poster and the trailer released. The storyline of the movie is very different, it’s something that you might not have seen in Tollywood so far.”
Viswant plays a student who is strong, matured and focused. Then enters a flamboyant girl, who changes a lot of things in his life. “I play a role that’s younger than my actual age. I play a 21-year-old and I am 24. So I had to work on making myself look younger; I even lost a little weight.”
Describing the “humble” co-stars Mohanlal and Gautami, Viswant says, “I never dreamt of working with Mohanlal, or a superstar like him, at the early stage of my career. But I got lucky. The first time I met him, he tapped me on my back and introduced himself. He said, ‘Hi! I am Mohanlal’. I was awestruck. Gautami garu and I realised that we are from the same school, Timpany in Vizag, she then told me that her mom is from the same city as I am, Kakinada. So we found these common factors and bonded over them.”
Viswant has signed another Tollywood project and will start shooting from September. “Apart from this, there are also a couple of other projects in Tollywood that I am on the verge of signing. I have also been getting calls from big production companies in Kollywood. I am fluent in Tamil, so I am open to
projects from Kollywood.
“I have been associated with Manamantha for the past 11 months. I had to leave a couple of films for this. This is a big risk for me to take early in my career. But I didn’t want to lose out on a good project like this,” he adds.
