The Hindu Business Line : The right mix

It was two decades ago that Nagarjuna entered films as the son of renowned Telugu thespian Akkineni Nageshwara Rao — a tag that brought with it both pride and responsibility for the young actor. But it took just a few films for Nagarjuna to emerge from his father’s shadow and grow to become one of the top-four stars in Telugu film industry.

“I have learnt quite a few valuable lessons from father. Despite a busy acting career, he would still spend quality time with us,” Nagarjuna says.

ANR, as his father is popularly called, has a reputation for being a disciplined actor who never throws his weight.

“He never gave us sermons. But we learnt several things by just observing him. The way he organised himself, the way he spoke to people and the way he moved around — all helped me in moulding myself,” he explains.

But Nagarjuna is not one to remain stuck in the past, however glorious it may have been.

“I certainly believe that old is gold. But it doesn’t mean that everything about the present is bad and ugly. Old is gold. Today is much better. My father was not in a position to spend a lot of time with the family due to his busy film schedules. But I could spend a lot more time with my son,” he argues.

Nagarjuna has also been a trendsetter in the Telugu industry in many ways. His Shiva had changed the course of movie-making. He proved to all concerned that an actor of his standing could safely put a project in the hands of a novice, Ram Gopal Varma in this case, if it had a perfect matrix.

A fresh approach, with a brisk script that laid emphasis on silences and sounds rather than loads of dialogues, and crisp editing made it a blockbuster a decade ago.

It helped too that Nagarjuna infused an extra dollop of style to the on-screen image of heroes.

The actor is also a fitness freak who is admittedly addicted to workouts. “I do exercises whenever I find time and whenever I feel like,” he says.

A few years ago, he sprang a surprise by announcing a film project titled Annamayya (based on the life of the 15th century poet-singer who has penned over 32,000 krithis) under the direction of K. Raghavendra Rao, a successful director in the commercial genre of films.

This film, which went on to become a commercial success, was followed by Sriramadasu, in which Nagarjuna plays the role of the 17th century devotee of Rama. This film also turned out to be a huge success.

Asked if there were more such “surprises” in the offing, he says, “I am still open to making such kind of films. But only, they should have potential for commercial successes. They should be commercially viable.”