Godavari neellu taagithe chaalu

No one does it better - sending you into fits of laughter with deadpan humour and quietly walk away from the scene. After wowing audiences in Pokiri, Desamuduru, Ali is all set to don a hero’s role once more in Tinnama Padukunnama Tellarindha. In a free wheeling chat, the comedian who has an upward of 800 films to his credit in a career spanning 30 years says he is dying to do roles that excite and unnerve him.

Born and brought up in Rajahmundry, Ali says he gave up studies in school to take up films as his father wanted him to become an artist. He says, “My father was an accomplished tailor and would stitch costumes for classical dancers and circus artistes. I remember people would come from America to get costumes stitched by him. He would work hard in the mornings and would relax in the evenings by going to the circus. It was then he wished that I did something other than the ordinary. I saw Sholay in 1975 and the character Gabbar Singh inspired me to join showbiz. It was a long struggle of fourteen years to gain recognition.”

Ali is playing a character interested in gender transformation in the forthcoming film Chirutha. Hasn’t he done this role umpteen times? He says, “I have played a woman in about 35 films so far. As an artiste I have no reservations about the roles I portray, be it a man, woman or a eunuch. There are people who pay money and join films to get name, fame whatever. Here I’m getting paid for doing all this so why should that bother me? I have moreover observed and studied a woman’s behaviour for a long time, the way they walk, talk and react. Many people can do such roles but they are few who can make us do it properly. I think I suit such roles the best because I am slim and I have dimpled cheeks.”

Ali’s first film was Punaadi Raallu and eversince he had made Hyderabad his home. Tell him that he speaks impeccable telugu, he gives the credit to his native place. He adds, “Anyone who drinks a glass of water from Godavari can speak fluent telugu. Yes, people keep asking me if I have learnt acting and dancing in an institute and someone even asked me if I belong to a Brahmin family because my Telugu is so good.”

Ali works round the clock, is he fasting this holy month? He says, “In our home right from an eight year old girl to an old person everyone observes Roza. I don’t because of  my shootings. God never asked us to observe fast and pray five times daily during Ramzaan. Actually this one month of fasting is a show of gratitude to God for giving this maanava janma. Bakthi is not an outward show, it a relation between you and your God..”