‘It’s a liberating experience’
Sumanth Ashwin revelling in his role as adventure biker in Guru Pawan’s film
Sumanth Ashwin is an actor who never ceases to experiment. The role of an adventure biker in his upcoming, untitled film, directed by Guru Pawan Depuru, is a step in that direction. Apparently, the Happy Wedding actor had just returned to Hyderabad from a solo road trip to Everest Base Camp (EBC) in December 2019 when he heard the script. “Since I had just returned from an expedition, I could instantly connect to director Pawan’s story when he narrated it to me” explains Sumanth, revealing that the film is about an aspiring biker. He says he had been wanting to do a road film for a long time, and thanked producer G. Mahesh for backing the adventure movie.
“We shot one schedule in Hyderabad before the lockdown,” says Sumanth, recounting the preparation that went into playing his part.
“I was fascinated by cars since childhood and had never ridden a bike. So initially, my father and I were a little sceptical about my riding a specially designed 800 cc bike,” he shares, but goes on to say that he picked up riding a professional bike in just one week. “Since I never had never ridden a sports bike, I knew picking it up would be challenging. So I started on a normal bike and after three days, I picked up riding a sports bike,” he says, adding, “Since it was a racing bike it was very heavy. I practised on it, going for long drives. I even shot a race sequence in Vikarabad in the first schedule.”
The Prema Katha Chitram 2 actor describes the experience of riding a sports bike as “thrilling”. “I used to see a lot of professional bikers in Hyderabad and wonder at them. But now I realise why people like bikes and why bikers go on long-distance drives,” he says, adding that bike-riding is indeed a liberating experience. “Now I want to ride a bike in Ladakh and Leh when we resume our next schedule of shooting,” Sumanth says.
I play a guy who loves taking risks. He wants to win a sports competition (in North India) but getting an entry is difficult. The film is about his efforts, and the people he meets in the process