CHENNAI: Sundeep Kishan began his journey in cinema as a villain and later transformed into a lead actor. The actor then turned producer and has now made his debut in a web series.
The 32-year-old, who played a prominent role in Amazon Prime’s Indian web series The Family Man, says the success of his recent outings has made him more cautious as an actor. “These days, I am meticulously planning each move in my career. I want to take things forward carefully.”
Sundeep is not surprised by the success of The Family Man. “I always believed in the abilities of my directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. In fact, Raj and DK had not conceived a character for me in Season 1, but I insisted on playing the role of Moosa. However, they didn’t want me to portray a negative role and created Major Vikram’s character for me.
I’m happy with the response I have received for my performance as an Army man.” Telling us the web series has been divided into three seasons so far, he reveals that he is not part of the show’s second season. “I am not acting in season 2 because it is not set in the Kashmir backdrop. However, I will return for the third one. The shoot of the second season is half-complete and the script for the third one is locked.”
The actor is content with the success of his maiden production venture Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene. However, the Tamil version, Kannadi, has not made it to the cinemas yet. Sundeep says his dream to release it simultaneously with the Telugu version turned into a nightmare owing to ‘unexpected’ financial issues.
“The distributors, producers, and financiers in Tamil Nadu follow a complex business model which turned out to be problematic for us.
Be it a straight or a dubbed film, it is difficult to guarantee a smooth release over there. The co-producer of Kannadi (Viji Subramaniyan) made up the loses incurred by his other film, Aadai, with our film and troubled me until the day of Ninnu Veedani Needanu Nene’s release. Thankfully, I came out of that fiasco and released the Telugu version on time.”
That isn’t the only time Sundeep faced issues in the Tamil industry. “Apart from Kannadi, I have two other Tamil films — Naragasooran and Kasada Thapara — struggling to see the light of the day due to various reasons. After these experiences, I just want to take a break from Tamil cinema.”