Naga Chaitanya aka Chay Akkineni made his Bollywood debut after 13 years of working in Telugu films. After watching him as Bala in the Aamir Khan starrer Laal Singh Chaddha, I was amazed by his performance. I think the star would do wonders if the right kind of scripts are offered to him. In an exclusive interaction with Team MissMalini, the Southern star opens about making his debut in Hindi films at this stage, stepping into his grandfather’s shoes for a role and many more things.
Read the experts of the interview here:
On understanding the cinema at this stage…
I still haven’t understood it completely, it is much better than day one when I started off. Through the journey, success and failures have taught me a lot. In fact failures have taught me immensely. You just keep learning from every film. The industry’s growth is always constant. You can never stop growing because the audience is also growing. To be in tune with all that you need to keep learning. I have learnt so much from where I have come. I am so happy that I made my Hindi debut now. I can’t imagine doing it 13 years back, I would have been a mess.
On a change in cinema as of today…
As an artist, I crave for maximum exposure and we are able to get that. Our films are being viewed everywhere. Language is no barrier anymore. The pandemic has fast tracked this process. People have gotten used to watching films on the OTT or the internet. They are consuming all kinds of content. It is a great direction for actors, filmmakers or anyone associated with the craft. There is a great synergy happening. Indian cinema is referred to as one now. We are being recognized by the world over which is great.
On playing role of his grandfather in a movie…
You won’t believe it. I was saying no for the project. There is so much pressure, he has done such an enormous body of work which I don’t even know if i will be able to come close to. Automatically there is so much comparison. Me being Chaitanya myself itself gives me so much criticism for some of the work I do. Imagine trying to be my grand dad. Then family and friends said would you be able to digest it if someone else played it?
You can check out the full interview here:
Naga Chaitanya will be seen in Dootha an Amazon Prime series.