Manish Chaudhari reveals how role in Aarya helped him bag Nagarjuna-starrer The Ghost: ‘It is huge down south’

Actor Manish Chaudhari has worked in films and TV shows for over two decades, and after a lifetime of working in Hindi, 2022 brought a change for him. He was cast as the antagonist in Nagarjuna’s Telugu action thriller Ghost, which released earlier this month. The actor earned appreciation for the role even though the film did not work much at the box office. In conversation with Hindustan Times, Manish talks about how his stint in Aarya earned him that role, and what it was like sharing screen space with Nagarjuna. Also read: The Ghost teaser: Nagarjuna shows off impressive sword fighting skills in gory action sequence

Having been seen in films like Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year and Bombay Velvet, Manish found fame with web series like Aarya and Shoorveer. The actor reveals that it was his role as the baddie Shekhawat in Aarya that helped him bag The Ghost. “Praveen Sattaru, the director (of The Ghost), called me and said ‘I have seen you in Aarya and I want you in my film’. It was as simple as that. In Andhra and Telangana, apparently, Aarya became as popular as in the North. He was very keen on getting me for that negative character,” he shares.

The language barrier did play on Manish’s mind even as the director refused to see it. The actor recalls, “I said I don’t know how to speak the language, but he said I shouldn’t worry because people have already seen me speak Telugu in the dubbed version of Aarya.” So after months of language training and diction classes, Manish transformed into Lala and went toe to toe with Nagarjuna, an actor he has admired since he was a student.

Talking about the experience of working with the veteran, Manish says, “The entire climax is between Nag sir and me. For four days, we shot together and it was fantastic. I was telling Praveen, ‘boss mera toh sapna poora ho gaya (My dream has come true)’. When Shiva (Nagarjuna’s Hindi debut, which released in 1990) came out, I was in college at that time, and he made such an impression that I had always admired him. It was wonderful because he was so easy and chill. He has been around for so long so he has been around for so long. So he knows what to do and how to get it done.”

The Ghost is a violent thriller with some breathtaking and intense action. Manish says watching Nagarjuna perform those stunts himself in his 60s was quite an experience. “He is 63 and he had all that action to do, and he carried that so easily on his shoulders. I was standing one and a half feet away from him, and I saw the man in all his reality. And he doesn’t look a day over 50. I am a bigger fan of his now having worked with him and seen him in action,” he says.

Having worked in a Malayalam film in 2017 and The Ghost now, Manish is game for work in more languages now. “As an Indian, I want to be seen as an actor by everybody in the country, no matter what language they speak,” he shares, adding that it is web series that is making all this possible, “Shows like Aarya have crossed the language barrier and made everyone watch them. That is so good for everyone, artistes like me, filmmakers like Ram, and the audience too.”

The actor adds that OTT has helped actors like him find fame. “People know me as Manish now, and not just as that guy from Rocket Singh etc. And I wonder, how did this happen? People know my name now. That has been the beauty of OTT,” he says. The actor shares an anecdote, “I did a show called Powder in 2010, which was for TV but very OTT-like. Eventually, it streamed on Netflix. Some time back, I was shooting for Shoorveer in Serbia and an intern on set recognized me as the cop from Powder, because he had seen the show in Serbian on Netflix. The amount of recognition this platform gives actors is unheard of.”

Manish has quite a few projects lined up now. He will be seen in a web series made by Pataal Lok’s Sudeep Sharma, which releases next year. He will also be seen in The Ghost director Praveen Sattaru’s next Telugu film.

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