HYDERABAD: We all know him from the numerous viral videos but soon the Telugu audience will know him as a hero as well. Debuting as a lead with Agent Sai Srinivas Atreya, Naveen Polishetty is evidently excited.
After a successful stint on the digital arena, things seem to have taken off for him in cinema as well. “Agent Sai Srinivas Atreya is my debut film as a lead in Telugu and I am also debuting in a Hindi film called Chichchore, directed by Nitesh Tiwari,” he says.
Naveen had his first encounter with Agent Sai two years ago. “Swaroop, the director of the film got in touch with me two years ago and asked me if I would take a look at this story he was writing and sent me the synopsis. I loved it and it was a unique yet entertaining piece of work. So, I got back to him and told him that I would like to work on the movie together. We sat together and made improvements and now here we are,” he says. The two-year journey with Swaroop and his vision also earned him the credit of co-screenplay writer on the film. He also adds, “Being a part of the writing process helped me understand the character and his world deeply. It served as prep for the shoot. We also did workshops for a month before we went on floors.”
There is apparently a lot to “the character’s world” in Agent Sai, which is a thriller but in a comic backdrop. “The title itself challenges the idea of how a detective is perceived. He is a small-town guy who is a detective in his own small world. His office is a room with a shutter which has ‘FBI Nellore’ painted across the top, a notice that says, ‘We don’t have any branches in the USA, and an announcement of Aashadham Dhamaka offers. That’s the tone the film takes,” explains the actor.
While his two debuts are keeping him busy, he also has been flooded with scripts. But he is choosy. “It doesn’t matter which language I get work in. Work is never about the language for me. It has always been my prerogative to pick scripts that are different but still can work commercially. There is a spark I look for that would make me want to be a part of the story immediately,” he says signing off.