Actor Adhvik Mahajan, who has joined hands with director Ashok Teja for his next film, gets candid with The Pioneer about his stint in the Telugu industry, camaraderie with director Ashok Teja, and more.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
Best known for his work in Oosaravelli, actor Adhvik Mahajan will next be seen in filmmaker Ashok Teja’s film — in an exclusive interview for the Tollywood segment, we approached him to know best about how is he willing to shine this time as he’s currently shooting in Hyderabad city.
Such a devoted actor, he’s doing something more than a contribution to his propensity towards cinema. He is extremely ill, and in spite of that, his good intentions are to finish the schedule and the interviews arranged for him: he goes on to attain those. “I come from Jalandhar — but when I moved to Mumbai, didn’t anticipate the kind of endeavours I will have to go through to make a mark for myself. Started looking for work hopelessly. When my Telugu film became a blockbuster here, unfortunately, I had to go back to Jalandhar to consummate my prior commitments to the theatre group I was a part of. So that series of doing back-to-back Telugu movies was unluckily broken there.”
So what happened next, “Providentially my career in television was launched and I was and am still at a peak. It’s been only since few years I am in touch with Telugu casting agencies looking to make a comeback here. I feel that gratitude ‘Oh, they remember me’. Even though I am a film old, I still feel like a newcomer. I am still not used to the Telugu lifestyle! But, I am a mature actor now. My experience in Mumbai moved away like a flash, if we go ten years ago, it takes time for us outsiders to get that “Mumbai ki hawa”. But this time I’ll stick around Tollywood!”
Recalling his initial experiences in the South film industry, he expressed, “It doesn’t matter which industry is calling me, I just need an opportunity to act. After my Hindi debut, so many calls were coming from the South film industry and I wasn’t sure will I be able to pull this off because I never knew Telugu. Frankly speaking, Sonu Sood was my motivation to sign Telugu films because he was doing some zabardast movies here. He was at the peak of his career, and it was unexpected for a man coming from Moga. That Punjabi connect matched mystically.
“Sonu paaji, Sonu paaji karke I arrived here” (he giggles). My assistant director is helping me with the script and sometimes we have to mug up also, all of this is a part of our process. Primarily it’s about emotions and dialogue delivery at the right time!”
Sharing some more of his association down South, he shared, “I have a friend over here, I keep coming down to Hyderabad regardless of shooting purposes. This is the right kind of mixture of Delhi and Bombay. The development is on a rapid scale here. There is nothing that’s not available in Hyderabad! This time around, I can see how the industry has grown so much bigger than it used to be some ten years ago. I love the food also but “panga yeh hai ke mai vegetarian hoon” so I am deprived of having the famous Biryanis that is the most talked about Hyderabad city.”
Sharing his camaraderie with the director Ashok Teja, the contract fame goes on, “He’s not a director, but more of a friend to me. I was feeling out of place for a while because everyone else communicating in the Telugu language and asked me to engage in conversations. Instructed the cast to speak in Hindi for me and also gave an assistant to me who’ll translate whatever is happening around. And doing action sequences for him is nothing new to me, I am a trained martial artist. I very well know how an action sequence is choreographed so I am not being trained here, I have come well-prepared already when it comes to action. And then there is a special song which I am the most excited about.”
