11 December 2019
Hyderabad

The combination of Venkatesh and Naga Chaitanya is quite in an interesting one. The coming together of two mainstream actors who hail from two major film families is significant also because they are an uncle-nephew duo, a combination we don’t often see on the Telugu screen.

Having grown up on a dose of cinema that had Venkatesh as a star entertainer, Venky Mama really is a big opportunity for Chaitanya to work with him. The youngster himself feels so. Speaking in a media interaction, he revealed, “Observing his timing and his style was such a learning curve for me. Especially because we worked on an entertainer and I think this would have been a huge experience for any actor!”
Interestingly, this marks his collaboration with both his uncles Suresh and Venkatesh, with the former taking on the production mantle with his Suresh Productions. “Yes! I was basically dealing with one mama in front of the camera and another behind it,” he jokes.

Elaborating on how this was in the wait for long, he shares, “I have wanted to work with Suresh Productions since the beginning of my career. And then working with Venky mama also has been on the to-do list. Luckily both of them happened in a single go in 2019! It was always on the mind but this happened organically.”

Apparently, the collaboration with Suresh Productions has taken a long while and many considerations. “Last year Suresh garu called me regarding the script of Bobby’s Venky Mama. In fact, this was a very common thing for me because he does call to share interesting stories he thinks will work for me. We’ve been over 10-15 scripts for a possible collaboration. But I am glad it took time and this one worked out and for the best and we are finally talking about it today,” he says.

Even though they Venkatesh and Chaitanya were seen together in Premam where the former made a cameo appearance, this full-fledged collaboration took a while and has garnered quite the anticipated wait around it. Chaitanya reveals that he didn’t think about this till the previous film happened! “When we were seen together in Premam, many said that we should do a film together. I enjoyed that single day of shoot. I was surprised by the amount of interest eventually and that’s when I thought it would be a great idea. You can’t force something like this though. I always thought that something will work out organically as I gain experience as an actor. It is now a reality!”

Speaking about working with Venkatesh, the actor, he reveals, “I got a new perspective of him, watching him on the sets of the film. The calmness and positivity he carries with him while working is quite amazing to watch. I’ve heard everyone say that he has no haters. I understood why! His positivity is why it is so! Even though he gets angry occasionally, there’s just no bad blood!”

Elaborating on the anger, he reveals, “Both Suresh and Venky mama can’t take it if there’s any sort of time wasted. If anything doesn’t go as planned, they suddenly flip! And these are in moments when you least expect it. But that’s really good because their anger is always justified! It translates in the efficiency of the rest of the team!”

Off screen-on screen chemistry
One might assume that the off screen chemistry translates on to the screen for the uncle and nephew. But Chaitanya makes some interesting revelations: “Venky mama and I are very reserved in real life and we don’t talk much. Our bonding is in silence and not in words. But in this movie there are number of dialogues and high energy! The first few days weren’t easy for me! After behaving a certain way around him for over 30 years at home where there was a certain discipline and respect, adapting adapting to this wasn’t easy. On sets, I initially had the fear and it was hard to open up in front of him as an actor.”

But things changed after warming up, it seems. “I have so many memories with him since childhood and that emotion did help make this different to work on. When people see the film, they will feel that our real life bond was a plus. The film has the layer of bond between a nephew and uncle and I really connected to it because it is an emotion that I connect to.”

But the best part of the film was the moment of being a fan starring in a loved hero’s film. “Everyone calls this a multistarrer but I feel like just another character in a Venkatesh film. I am his fan and I grew up on a dose of his films. I feel excited just that I get to work with him.”