His father, actor Nagarjuna, says the young breed actors these days should be making more movies than they are. Yet his son and actor Naga Chaitanya is returning to the big screen a whole year after, his last being the RGV nightmare Bejawada. The 26 year-old though is a picture of calm as he talks about his upcoming movie Thadaka, set to release this Friday. Starring Tamannah, Sunil and Andrea Jeremiah, the film is a remake of the Tamil hit Vettai, which will also soon see a Bollywood version starring John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan.
Chaitanya, though, desists from calling it a remake. “It’s up to you whether you call it a remake or not, for the movie is inspired from the Tamil version. However, I would say it is an adaptation because the script has been altered for our audience and it’s got more vibrancy.”
Thadaka tells the story of two brothers, one a cop and the other a happy-go-lucky chap. While Sunil essays the responsible brother who becomes a police officer (essayed by Madhavan in Vettai), Chaitanya plays the younger brother. “I play this reckless guy who has fun all the time, but he eventually becomes responsible,” the actor shares of his character.
Having played the aggressive hero who beats people up in movies like Dhada and Josh, and the unwitting romantic in 100% Love, Chaitanya says that his role in Thadaka is the best of both characters. The movie is also the second collaboration between Tamannah and him (the earlier movie being 100% Love). “It was great working with her again. In 100%, our characters didn’t really go far together. But in Thadaka, we finish what we started,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.
With two more projects of his coming up, Autonagar Surya, which will release soon, and the family production Manam which will see the three generations of Akkineni alongside each other, the actor is pretty contended with where he is. Referring to his father’s opinion about making more movies, he says, “I agree with him. An actor’s shelf life is a lot less these days than it was back then. But at the same time, I can’t just make any movie. The script has to be right. Trends are changing fast and keeping up with them takes time.”
And ask him if he thinks whether a multi-starrer with the his peers would work with the audience, Chaitanya is quite upbeat. “I really hope such a movie works out. I’d love to be a part of it. It has to have conviction. And of course the right script. The audience will appreciate it.”
Painting the town Red
Actress Tamannah set the shutterbugs clicking as she turned up in a blood red shirt and a svelte pair of black heels for the promotion of her upcoming Telugu movie Thadaka. Accompanied by fellow actors Andrea Jeremiah, looking demure in a yellow summer dress and nude stilettos, a chiseled Sunil and Naga Chaitanya in a tasteful ink blue shirt, the quartet made quite a colourful appearance, in tow of their director Kishore Kumar Pardasani, popularly known as Dolly. Speaking in a mix of Telugu and English, the actress was the cynosure of all. While producer Bellamkonda Ganesh waxed eloquent, Tammanah herself wasn’t short of words. “This was the first movie where I had such an enjoyable experience. We were all like a family and had a lot of fun. The team of Thadaka are the coolest, and you can right that down!” she gushed.
With the movie shy of a release, we asked the actress and the director what they thought of the final product. Dolly promptly passed the baton to his leading lady, who diplomatically replied, “We’ve made the movie for the audience. So really, it’s up to them.”
