After consecutive hits – Yevade Subramanyam, Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy and Krishnagadi Veera Prema Gaadha, Nani will be next seen in Indraganti Mohana Krishna’s Gentleman.
It was Indraganti who introduced Nani and the two have teamed up after eight years. Nani says, “Yes, it was a bit emotional on the first day of the shoot as some of the technicians who had worked for my first film also worked in this film. But, mostly we enjoyed the shoot.”
He also says this was a challenging role for him. “It’s easy to play a character who is suffering with a disease or has a psychological problem. Gentleman is completely opposite. There are both positives and negatives in the role and it is the most challenging role I have done so far. And I feel that this is the right time for me to take up challenging roles,” explains Nani, terming the film as a romantic thriller.
Before Yevade Subramanyam, Nani had faced a draught of nearly three years. But now, he has become unstoppable with many consecutive hits.
The actor has also stopped doing Tamil films, which he says was a conscious decision. “I took the decision after Aha Kalyanam. Though the film released in Telugu, people felt that my lip sync was bad. They didn’t connect to the character because it felt like a dubbed film. It wasn’t helping my career, so I decided to stop doing Tamil films. But in the near future I will do a bi-lingual, my Telugu film will release in Tamil,” he says.
The reason he choose Tamil in the first place was to work with good technicians. “When I entered the industry, I wanted to work with good directors like Mani Ratnam and Gautam Menon; that’s why I did Tamil films. I realised later that I was not adding anything to the Tamil scripts and that it was a waste of time for me. During my rough patch, I learnt many things, I realised my strong points and my weaknesses,” reveals the actor.
He, however, adds that he doesn’t regret acting in flop films like Paisa and Aha Kalyanam. “I believed in the scripts and I give my 100 per cent. And people appreciated my performance in those films, even if the films were a flop,” he says.
He also realised that apart from performance, a film’s content and the entire team is important for a film’s success. “That’s what I learn from my films,” he says. Nani says that he never does any homework and doesn’t believe in workshops.
“I personally believe that they won’t work for me. I am not against it if someone does homework or workshops, but I came to the industry without any proper training. So I go according to what the director narrates to me. Once the scene is over I come out of it. I don’t carry the character with me for long as many actors do,” he reveals.
On the personal front, he says that his wife Anjana is busy with her own work and does not involve with his work and the film industry. “She is working on her own with her friends and is not related to the film industry. My mother is also a central government employee and is busy with her work,” “No plans for kids yet, there’s still time,” he concludes.
