Kamal sir and Mani sir were my inspiration: Nani
Shyam Singha Roy team in Chennai for promo events
Of late, T’Town actors and filmmakers have been making it a point to visit Chennai to promote their pan-Indian films in a big way. After Rajamouli, Jr NTR, Ram Charan and Allu Arjun, the latest visitor is Nani. The actor, along with his onscreen pair Sai Pallavi and co-star Samuthirakani, was here to promote his flick Shyam Singha Roy, directed by Rahul Sanskrityan. Though Nani is not new to Tamil audiences as he has already done a few straight Tamil films such as Veppam and Aaha Kalyanam, the actor said they didn’t give him the right break. “Naan Ee, where I had only half-an-hour of screen presence, was a huge hit here. The love that people in Chennai showed me after Naan Ee was amazing. But my other Tamil films didn’t do well at the box-office,” he said. “And so, after some introspection, I decided to not mix the two cultures, realizing that I should focus more on Telugu before revisiting my extended family. After listening to the script of Shyam Singha Roy, I felt it was the right one to work magic in Tamil as well,” he added with a smile.
Responding to a question on his inspiration to become an actor, Nani said, “I donned grease paint only because of watching the films of Kamal Haasan Sir and Mani Ratnam Sir. In SSR, I subconsciously imitated Kamal Sir’s style of folding up the shirt sleeves from his film Sathya, and copied his moustache from Hey Ram. For that matter, not only I, many actors unintentionally emulate Rajini Sir’s mannerisms in our commercial films.”
Following up, Nani said, “If there is one director in the world who I would like to work with, it’s Mani Ratnam Sir,” and added regretfully, “I was supposed to work under his direction twice earlier, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.” He also said he would like to share screen with Sivakarthikeyan.
IN SHYAM SINGHA ROY, I SUBCONSCIOUSLY IMITATED KAMAL SIR’S STYLE OF FOLDING UP THE SHIRT SLEEVES FROM HIS FILM SATHYA, AND COPIED HIS MOUSTACHE FROM HEY RAM
— NANI