Vijay Kanakamedala’s directorial debut, Ugram, starring Allari Naresh and Mirnaa Menon in the lead roles, is going to hit the theaters tomorrow (May 5). Ahead of the film’s release, Allari Naresh interacts with the Hyderabadi media, discussing what would compel him to return to the comedy genre again, western influence on his performance, and more.
Amartya Smaran
Actor Allari Naresh comes from an era where distributors and producers preferred quantity over quality. However, by today’s standards, only quality content makes the cut. And he ever-so gracefully adapted to the times. Most importantly, he realised that he needed to break out of the image of a comedy hero.
Director Vijay Kanakamedala’s Naandhi (2021) catapulted Naresh’s career back again. The audience got to see a new man altogether. The duo collaborated for the second time on Ugram, a suspense thriller that revolves around a cop trying to crack the mystery of mysterious missing cases. The film is going to hit theatres on May 5 and stars Mirnaa alongside Naresh. The film has a screenplay by Vijay Kanakamedala himself. Sricharan Pakala scored the music, and Siddharth J handled the camera for the film.
In a week’s time, the actor will have completed 21 years in the Telugu film industry. His debut film, Allari, was a major box-office hit, hence the moniker—Allari.
Excelling in a dramatic role isn’t new for Naresh. He proved himself as a dramatic actor in films like Gamyam, Shambo Shiva Shambo, and Maharshi. With Naandhi, he proved to everyone that he could pull off any kind of role with ease.
In Ugram, he plays a cop named K. Shiva Kumar. The audience will get to see three variations of Naresh’s character. From the time he trains to become a police officer to the period where he falls in love, and finally, life post marriage. And he must also solve the increasing number of missing cases. The story progresses over a five-year period, and the film would follow a non-linear screenplay.
Naresh consciously took the decision to be a part of films like Naandhi (2021), Itlu Maredumilli Prajaneekam (2022), and now Ugram (2023), because he no longer desired to be typecast as a comedic hero. He says there’s a real dearth of comedy writers and directors in the industry. His father, E.V.V. Satyanarayana, was a genius filmmaker who mastered the art of creating on-screen comedy. Today, the actor feels that the audience prefers watching something that has dark humour and not slapstick comedy.
We asked the Ugram actor what exactly would compel him to return to the comedy genre again. “The script!” said the Gamyam actor. “When someone narrates a story to me, I must laugh. First, I should feel excited. When I was doing Sudigadu, spoofs were working out at the time. Hot Shots! (1991) is one of my favourite films, and I wanted to make a film like that. Now, making a film with spoofs is nearly impossible because the whole film is out in the form of memes. You’ve got to create much more than that. And not many people like watching slapstick comedy.”
He pointed out that people have turned a tad sensitive when it comes to accepting a certain style of comedy. He remarked, “If I had made Kithakithalu today, people would scold me! Back then, if Kota Srinivas Rao Garu kicked Babu Mohan Garu in a scene, it would work. Today, they’d argue, saying, “How can he even kick?” Everything has become more sensitive. Unknowingly, there’s a limitation in terms of what we can do with comedy.”
The Naandhi star further continued: “A lot of the family audience watches my films, and I don’t believe in double-meaning dialogues. It’s only going to work for the morning show, but it won’t go well with the family audience on the second or third day. I am looking forward to being a part of a film that has clean comedy or something that presents me from a new angle.”
In terms of acting, Naresh is not much of a method actor. He says he’s quite spontaneous. It’s like switching on and switching off for him. It’s that easy because he’s done the hard stuff. What’s that, you ask? Comedy! Landing the right punches is one of the most difficult things to do, and Naresh always made it look easy with his comedic performances. Comedy also needs a lot of spontaneity, or else you won’t get the laughs, and none of it looks natural. The Pioneer inquired of the actor as to how much of his acting is instinctive and how much of it is inspired by the West.
“I see a lot of world films,” commented Naresh. “I am currently watching a series called Alice in Borderland (a Japanese series). The thing is, there’s a lot of difference between our culture and their culture. However, I am inspired by their performances. I see how they hold an emotion in a close-up shot to build that intensity.”
All told, Naresh says none of the western influence seeps into his performance because he thinks like the character. “I own the problems of the character. I think, “What if I were in the character’s place?” I don’t believe in copying other performers. If you try to observe someone’s body language and try to emulate that on the screen, it looks fake. I try to keep my acting as natural as possible.”
Naresh has made the audience laugh and cry, but this time, he’s ready to unleash his furious side. The Allari star is hopeful that Ugram will excel in all departments and is eager to know how the audience will receive his new on-screen avatar.
