‘I was skeptical and signed Butta Bomma in hurry’

Actor Arjun Das, who has gained huge popularity in the Tamil film industry, is all set to make his Tollywood debut with the upcoming film Butta Bomma. In a recent interaction with the media, the debutante shared some insights about the film, his acting idols, and more.

Amartya Smaran

Arjun Das, who gained massive popularity with the portrayal of a fiery cocaine-snorting antagonist in Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Kaithi(2019), couldn’t be more excited to chat with film journalists, ahead of his Tollywood debut titled ‘Butta Bomma’. His radio-like mellifluous baritone voice left an indelible mark on the audience, so much so that, movie buffs wouldn’t shy away from comparing the actor’s voice to that of legendary Welsh star Richard Burton.

Butta Bomma featuring Anikha Surendran, Surya Vasistha, and Arjun Das in the leading roles is directed by Shouree Chandrashekhar T Ramesh and bankrolled by Naga Vamsi S and Sai Soujanya under Sithara Entertainments and Fortune Four Cinemas banner. The social drama is a remake of the Malayalam super hit film ‘Kappela’(2020).

Post the success of Kaithi, Arjun Das was reportedly approached several times to play different roles in Telugu films, but he was just waiting for the right flick that would allow him to immerse himself in a substantial part. Thanks to his acting chops, the makers are already planning to cast Arjun in one of their future projects. Now is the time for the actor to shine in the role of ‘RK’. Butta Bomma’s teaser hints at Arjun playing a negative character but right off the hook, the Kaithi actor denied revealing anything pertaining to his character. Replying to a series of questions about his character in Butta Bomma, the Andhaghaaram star quickly commented, “I think I can only tell you the name of my character and nothing more.”

A little-known fact is that the makers of Butta Bomma were hell-bent on Arjun dubbing for the part. Not being fluent in the language, the performer, however, agreed to go ahead with the recording as a token of appreciation for the kind of love and support he’s been receiving from the Telugu audience. Arjun jokingly remarked, “Vamsi Garu was very particular that I dubbed for my character. Four places in the agreement said, ‘You only have to dub’”.

Acting is all about reacting and emoting. It could turn out to be really challenging when actors from other states are required to mouth dialogues in a language alien to them. In the process of getting the lines right, there’s a real risk of messing up the performance.

When The Pioneer asked Arjun if it was at all hard for him to emote like how he masterfully does in Tamil films, he said, “Honestly, I was really skeptical and I signed in a hurry thinking I should be doing a Telugu film. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to emote because it’s a lot easier to understand the lines and emote in your mother tongue, but for a language that’s new to me, it’s not easy to deliver in a single take. Thanks to director Ramesh ji and all the ADs who were on the set. It was pretty much like going to school because I understood the emotion and the correct pauses. And, of course, I delivered in my own way because it shouldn’t look like you’re just delivering a dialogue, there should be the right emotion. Thankfully in this movie, I’m angry most of the time, so, it should be fine(haha). The audience and critics should watch the movie on the 26th and tell me how they like my performance. That feedback matters a lot to me because it would help me improve as a performer.”

The ‘Master’ actor even spoke about his acting idols saying “It’ll always be Kamal Haasan Sir, Mohanlal Sir, and Amitabh Bachchan Sir.” Continuing on why he holds these larger-than-life stars in such high regard, he shared, “I think how real they play all the characters is what inspires me. That is something that the audience also needs to see these days. I’m hoping that somewhere I can bring something close to reality on the screen.”

Natural acting is a term that every other person tends to use while discussing cinema. Performative acting is a big no for the present-day audience. When someone compliments an actor saying, “Wow! You were so natural”, that means the world to them. Surprisingly, the Vikram actor informed us that he never really prepares much to specially appear flawless in films.

“Thankfully till now there’s not been anything that demanded a great amount of preparation,” said Arjun. “If you take Kaithi for example, there was snorting cocaine! So, there’s not much prep that I could’ve done for that other than watching videos(haha). For Master, I was asked by the director to get ripped because I was part of a juvenile home. And for Andhaghaaram, there was no reference for the character because that’s a horror film.”

However, the Perumaan actor admits to having done some serious homework for the upcoming Vasanthabalan directorial titled Aneethi. “I play a Swiggy delivery person. In that, I did meet a lot of people from Zomato and Swiggy. Not to understand their body language or something but to understand their experiences. To be honest, they’ve not really had good experiences with people and it’s saddening to know that people treat them so badly. When I met the delivery boys, none of them ever mentioned names or hurled abuses, but they were really upset about how badly they were treated by the customers. That experience changed me, and now I make it a point to be nicer to them because something as small as a rating matters to them. These small things have really helped me and of course, Vasanthbalan Sir has helped me with most of it,” explained the baritone.

With seven interesting films lined up, Arjun Das is really looking forward to playing characters with different shades and breaking the stereotype of donning negative roles. Butta Bomma is going to hit the screens on January 26.