Prepping up for B-wood debut
Bellamkonda Sreenivas is on cloud nine. He’s making a debut in Bollywood and his 2019-hit Rakshasudu, is being remade in Hindi by none other than Akshay Kumar
Tollywood’s Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas is in a doublecelebration mode. Firstly because he has struck gold with his Hindi debut, the remake of the 2005-Telugu hit Chatrapathi, which starred Prabhas and was directed by S.S. Rajamouli. The Hindi remake is all set to go on the floors by mid-July.
“Dr Jayantilal Gada, the producer at the Pen Studios, has given me a good opportunity with this role. And I’ll give my best to this chance of being launched in the Bollywood industry,” says the excited actor.
While a Bollywood debut is reason enough to thrill an actor, there’s another reason the actor is on cloud nine. Bollywood’s
‘Khiladi’ actor
Akshay Kumar is all set to remake Bellamkonda’s 2019-hit Rakshasudu in Hindi.
Excerpts from an interview:
Q
Elaborate on your Bollywood debut, which is all set to begin shooting?
This film is an action-romance, and we plan to begin shooting from 12th July 2021. While earlier we’d planned to shoot in Mumbai, because of the prevailing situation, we’d now be shooting in Hyderabad for safety reasons.
The film is expected to later get dubbed into a couple of South Indian languages as it is a panIndia story. In the meanwhile, we’ve been juggling with COVID and trying to finalise the script.
Q
What were your preparations for your Bollywood
break?
This will be a big break for me and I’m happy I had the time to get prepared. Though this is an action film, I have dialogues in the film and have been preparing for it
too.
For one, I’ll be dubbing for my dialogues myself. So, I’ve been doing some online Hindi diction classes. Imtiaz sir is my Hindi coach from Mumbai, who came to Hyderabad to train me. As of now I know the nuktas and can read pretty well now, but I still need to brush up on the language some more.
Also, I have a gym at home so luckily I’ve been able to do my workouts there. I’m watchful for what the future has in store for me. (Smiles)
Q film?
We’ve planned this schedule of the film without a heroine. But the heroine will be announced later.
Who is your heroine in the
Q
Did it feel weird that you met Prabhas, hero of the original Chatrapati, in Mumbai though both of you live in Hyderabad?
In Hyderabad, we’re all usually occupied with our work, familial and other related commitments. But in Mumbai, neither of us has a friends circle yet. Prabhas and I met before the pandemic hit, when I had travelled to Mumbai to meet Dr Gada and he was there, shooting for Adipurush. Prabhas was also telling me that the
remake
is going to be very good. Q
It must be exciting that Akshay Kumar is all set to remake your hit film Rakshasudu.
I’m so happy, always looked up to Akshay Kumar. He is my idol and now he is remaking my film. I feel elated. It’s going to be super good. In my film, he’s set to play a cop. Q
So do you feel Akshay Kumar is stepping into your shoes?
Saying so would be too much. I’ve never spoken or met Akshay Kumar. I’ve have just started my career, while he has proven his mettle over all these years he’s been in the industry. Even when he’s been choosing varied subjects, all his films have proved to be boxoffice success stories.
This will be a big break for me and I’m happy I had the
time to get prepared. Though this is an action
film, I have dialogues in the film and have been preparing for it too.
For one, I’ll be dubbing for my dialogues myself. So, I’ve been doing some online Hindi
diction classes. Imtiaz sir is my Hindi coach from Mumbai, who came to Hyderabad to
train me
QWhich
is your next film?
Presently, I’m doing Karnan, a Tamil film done by Dhanush,
which we will try shooting in Telugu too.
Prabhas and I met before the pandemic when I had travelled
to Mumbai to meet Dr Gada and he was
there, shooting for Adipurush. Prabhas was also telling me that the remake is going to be very
good