Actor Ram Charan, whose Vinaya Vidheya Rama is scheduled for release this Friday, is more understated now in his approach, a change that seems to have come about in the last couple of years. “I don’t like competition personally,” says the Rangasthalam actor.
The introspection has its origins in the incident triggered by fans when his film and Allu Arjun and Mahesh Babu’s Bharat Ane Nenu released last summer. The collections of the film displayed on posters did not go down well with him. “I thought that it was not necessary and requested my producer not to publish the collections. I feel that we as actors should compete vis -a-vis performance.” He added that he assured the producer of his latest film that his fans would not put pressure. “This is my personal opinion and it’s up to the producer,” he says.
He says he has always bonded with other actors with Tarak (Jr NTR) being a long time friend. Bonding with other actors was not a new thing and in fact, he and Mahesh Babu have connected many times recently.
“Now, because of social media our pictures are doing the rounds, and you come to know about it,” he says.
Anyway he has his father to thank for being sociable. “My father started this trend long back in Chennai where he used to give regular parties. He had a party when a film was successful too. I am just emulating him,” says Charan. The actor further admitted that he had a secret Instagram account. “I wanted to know what was happening around, so I have an account, but I don’t want it to be public knowledge,” he says.
A thoughtful gesture
It was revealed that when Sye Raa was shot in the West Indies, Ram Charan gave perks to all the staff who worked on the film there. “It’s a long schedule and they are without their families for nearly a month. We give phones only to the few main technicians and not everyone. After two weeks, the employees may get frustrated and it could affect work. So, I gave them money, so that they could be in touch with their families and also buy gifts for them,” reveals Ram Charan. He added that he did the same for his earlier film, Khaidi No.150 too.
So was wife Upasana also part of Sye Raa’s production? “No, no. She has a job to look after Apollo.”
When it was pointed out that she was always seen with Charan and had put up many of his photos, he replied, “All wives are now doing the same.”
TRS leader K.T. Rama Rao was impressed with Charan’s speech at the pre-release event of the film. Any thoughts about politics, “No, I am in a happy space now. I shouldn’t enter politics nor KTR into films.”
