Naga Chaitanya Speaks About His  New Release, His Association With Aamir Khan

Naga Chaitanya Speaks To Subhash K Jha About His  New Release, His Association With Aamir Khan and His  Forthcoming Film With Father Nagarjuna.

Aamir Khan had some wonderful things  to say about you on  stage in Hyderabad?

It  was truly  an unforgettable gesture. He  didn’t have  to be there and he didn’t have to say the  things that he  did. It was totally unexpected. Aamir Sir saw the trailer of my new film Love Story  and he said he wanted to be there  to support  the team. Having him there at the event was magical! He is too kind a person. The amount of warmth I received from him during the shooting of Laal Singh Chaddha is very difficult to put into words.

Well, he has worked with a  lot  of actors in his time. But I haven’t heard him  shower so  much praise  on  anyone, so  I guess this says more about you than he?

That’s very kind of you to say. Thank you for that.

What was it like shooting with Aamir Khan for Laal Singh Chaddha in Ladakh?

It’s my debut in Hindi. And I’m so glad it happened  with Aamir Sir. It all happened  very organically. I first  got a call from his office. Then  in  the  night Aamir Sir spoke to me  over  a  video call. I flew to Mumbai  and spoke some  lines in front  of him. Then the  dates went all haywire because of the  pandemic. We  were  supposed to shoot in Turkey. But that didn’t happen. We ended up shooting in Kargil. Fortunately everything fell into place eventually.

Do you speak you own lines in Hindi in Laal Singh Chaddha?

Yes , I do, although my  Hindi is not all that  good. But I play a South Indian character and they wanted an accent. So they left my Hindi the way it is. I had almost six months to work on my Hindi dialogues. The director  sat with me and we worked  on my dialogues. It is not easy to emote in a  language  you don’t think in. The process  took time. But finally I owned  the dialogues.

Your last  release  was Venky Mama with your uncle Venkatesh.. Did  you  choose a comedy  to get over the intense roles  you have been  doing?

Yes , it  was  a break. Although let me  add I like  doing  intense films. Real  human relationships are my forte. More than the comedy, working with my uncle  was on  my bucklet list. He is great with comedy and family dramas. It  was  a  no-brainer  that  I’d  do a comedy or a family ilm with him. Doing comedy, let me  tell you,  was the most challenging thing. It is  the most difficult genre to do. Very  interestingly  when you see  a comedy with  the audience in  the theatre , you hear them  laughing at  moments which  you  never thought to be   funny.

Is a  sequel to  Venky  Mama  on  the cards?

No no. But  a  sequel to my father’s superhit  film  Soggade Chinni Nayana is  happening. It’s called Bangaraju  and it  will co-star my father and  I. The plot is slightly  modified from the original.A role for me  has been stitched and then there’s some action too. It’s going to  be  a  commercial entertainer.

Is loud acting  difficult  for you?

While I prefer  a more lowkey style of acting,my  uncle  and father belong  to a  different school  of acting. They belong  to that larger-than-life school of cinema for which I have to rearrange my acting chops. People think commercial cinema  is  easy to do. But I think  it’s very difficult to  attempt anything in  the  larger-than-life  genre.

So is your  new release Love Story a  larger-than-life love story?

No , it’s very much in the realistic space. Sai Pallavi and I  play  a working class couple  struggling to realize our dreams. The  film touches  on   the sensitive  issues  of  caste system and gender discrimination. It deals  with real-world  problems. I play  an underprivileged guy new to the  city  trying to find his  bearings. It  required a  whole  lot of preparation  from me.It  was a  completely  alien world  for me. Also, I speak  my dialogues  in the Telangana dialect  for  the  first time.  So far all my films have been in the Andhra dialect.The director Sekhar Kammula took me through my character months before  shooting.I watched  a lot of reference   films like  the Marathi  film Sairat. This is  the most challenging role of my career.

So far. You’ve just started?

Thank you  for saying that. It makes me  feel happy about the progress I’ve made.

Sai Pallavi your co-star?

God, don’t even ask!  Very patient, very human, very real, very kind. She definitely  complemented  me on screen.

Finally  I hope everything  works out well in your personal life. You deserve only happiness?

Thank  you, Sir. Thank you for  understanding.