A huge SRK fan, Varun wishes to have a coffee with him

Shreya Mukherjee

Actors go the extra mile to make their characters look convincing on screen, and for his next film, where he portrays a boxer, Telugu film star Varun Tej is following a rigorous routine. He wants to toil to not just act but also look the part.

He is training in Mumbai for the last couple of weeks under Rakesh Udiyar, who has trained the likes of Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and also boxer Neeraj Goyat. “When you play a boxer, you need to look like one. These days, so much content is accessible that the audience won’t accept anything but the best. I also don’t believe in compromising on anything,” says Varun.

He adds that a combination of weight training and boxing is quite taxing and his height — 6 feel 4 inches — is proving to be a bit of a hurdle. “The height is a trouble in terms of body alignments. Since I have super long legs, my frame is huge. It takes a lot more time to get into shape, etc…,” says the actor, whose second film Kanche (2015) won a National Award.

After Kanche, there was an influx of Bollywood offers and he was even asked to shift to Mumbai from Hyderabad. However, he didn’t want to move away from home, as he was just ‘setting his ground’ in the Telugu industry. “I still get offers (from Bollywood) but things somehow haven’t worked out, whether it’s due to my schedule or because I couldn’t connect with the story. But, I’d love to do Bollywood films, and any language, if the content resonates. Baahubali is a proof that good stories have no barriers,” says the nephew of popular south actors Pawan Kalyan and Chiranjeevi.

Talking about his Bollywood favourite, Varun calls himself a “huge fan” of Shah Rukh Khan. “Shah Rukh was once at [Ram] Charan’s house and I just observed him from a distance. I’d like to have a discussion with him over coffee, and I feel I’d get to learn a lot. And of course, I’d love to work with him. Who wouldn’t?” he says.

TELUGU ACTOR VARUN TEJ IS TRAINING UNDER CELEBRITY TRAINER RAKESH UDIYAR FOR HIS NEXT FILM IN WHICH HE PORTRAYS A BOXER