Express News Service
20 minutes into our phone conversation, actor Naveen Chandra, speaking from the chilling terrain of Munnar, shares a personal anecdote that takes me by surprise. He cites two people as major inspirations to propel him to become an actor.
“While it was my grandmother who first generated the spark of becoming an actor in me, the person who inspired and encouraged me to take the ultimate leap of faith is anchor Udhayabhanu garu,” says the Ballary native, who used to teach different dance forms for a living there.
“There was a dance competition in the town that she attended as a guest and on the stage, she presented me a rose, appreciated my talent, and encouraged me to give the film industry a shot, saying that I’ll be a good actor. Endhuku chepparo kooda theleedhu (I don’t know why she said that)!”
Naveen smiles, as recalls the moment. “That’s when it all started. I immediately started saving money and planning for the future from that point. Nijanga, Udhayabhanu gari inspiration eh nannu ikkadi dhaaka theesukochindhi (her inspiration brought me till here),” says Naveen, adding that he occasionally keeps in touch with the person who motivated him to take the plunge.
Naveen might have first broken into the scene with Hanu Raghavapudi’s 2012 romance, Andala Rakshasi, but the path hasn’t been easy for the actor, he admits himself.
“Hanu Raghavapudi was the one who brought out the actor in me, beyond simple goals like becoming an actor and showing the film to the people of my town. I understood what acting really meant to him. Yet, after Andala Rakshasi, break raaledhu. I was new to the industry and wasn’t aware of the concept of script selection. I just had to get better and keep learning from film after film. If you notice, I have done maximum films with fresh teams. With every director I worked with on every film, regardless of its fate, I was growing as an actor,” says a now confident Naveen.
“At the moment, I am in a space where I can differentiate between a good script and a bad script. If not for this journey and the learnings, I wouldn’t have dared to do a film called Ammu or a series like Parampara or even a strong thriller like Repeat. It might not be a ground-breaking thriller, but it is still interesting and engaging. People have been appreciating the film and my work ever since it premiered earlier this month on Disney+ Hotstar.”
Repeat, Naveen goes on to reveal, is a film with an interesting backstory. It was conceived as Tamil-Telugu bilingual by Arvindh Srinivasan, with Arulnithi headlining the Tamil version, Dejavu.
“In Telugu, we follow the story of a Telugu IPS officer who is investigating a case on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra border. Even though the opposite character converses with him in Tamil, he responds in Telugu. It is an interesting cross-over we tried to create.”
Speaking about the intricacies of crafting the bilingual, Naveen shares, “The Tamil version was initially shot for 22 days and then I joined the shoot post that with the original actors, including seniors like Madhubala and Achyuth Kumar. Although we shot it in Telugu, we left a few scenes in Tamil to retain the cross-over effect.” The process also offered Naveen the benefit of not getting influenced by the performance of his Tamil counterpart.
“Arvindh had two screenplays; in Tamil, he wanted to keep it quite subtle and smooth, but the Telugu screenplay was much more fast-paced because the story is set in a compact time frame. In the Telugu version, we treated my character with a smoking addiction as we felt lending an addiction to the character to allow the viewer to get on board with him easily. In real life, I don’t smoke or drink though,” Naveen shares, adding that music composer Ghibran even came up with different scores for the Tamil and Telugu versions to create different experiences.
In the past 10 years, Naveen has grown synonymous with serious, brawny roles in the form of performances in Aravindha Sametha Veera Raghava (2018), Evaru (2019), Pattas (2020) (Tamil) and more recently, Virata Parvam (2022). There has been a notable sojourn into his tender side with the romantic comedy Bhanumati Ramakrishna (2020), but it was a one-off detour. Does he miss playing these softer, lighter, humane roles?
“Ramakrishna is me! That’s how I was brought up. Yes, taking care of my family is now my responsibility and somewhere, in the race and the process, we forget ourselves and keep going forward. So when Srikanth Nagothi narrated the script of Bhanumati Ramakrishna, I knew that there was a Ramakrishna inside me—when I used to help my mother and sister in the kitchen. The film reminded me of myself. You see, I got to play Ramakrishna after essaying nearly seven rough roles. It’s all in eyes of the writers and director. They define us.”
The journey has been replete with ups and downs for Naveen and he admits that he proudly owns his difficult times.
“I don’t consider their struggles. It’s my choice. When someone extends sympathy saying ‘Naveen chaala kashtapaduthunnadu field lo (Naveen is struggling in the field)’, I just feel that it’s my choice. My choice is to become an actor and I’ll live through the hardships regardless of how difficult they are. That’s my way of looking at things,” signs off Naveen on an optimistic note.
“I am really looking forward to sharing my slate next year, which is filled with some very fascinating projects. What can I say? I’m starting 2023 with Veera Simha Reddy!”
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