I’m taking a break after Athidhi: Mahesh Babu

In the Telugu film industry he is one of those actors who would love to be labelled as an actor rather than a star, he doesn’t throw tantrums, he’s punctual, he doesn’t make you call several times for an interview and most importantly he’s not been involved in any controversy so far. Interviewing him was like chatting with a friend and not an actor which isn’t the case always with a star. Excerpts from the conversation (part 2) Click here for the first part.

“Athidhi is an action film. There is lot of importance to the love angle in it. We are really kicked about this film. I think it will work. The story takes place in Delhi and then it moves. We have worked hard on my look, tried something new, on my clothes too and I lost about five to six kgs for this film and the style is completely different.

AfterAthidhi I’m going to take a month or two months break. For the past seven years I’ve been working non-stop. After Sainikudu, in the US too we were sitting on the script and I got to spend time with my son.

I’ve entered films at 24. Mid-thirties is a stage when a man has to settle down, establish himself and one’s maturity level grows and you are in the right frame of mind. I think I’m I am on the right track. One has to sit down on a script for three to four months and you have a winner in your hands. There’s no point hurrying yourself doing three or four films a year. We got to scrutinise all angles before taking off.

Frankly speaking, it’s been a year but the success of Pokiri hasn’t sunk in. I’ve come up the hard way, and I am aware now that I have a new responsibility. About Surender Reddy - he narrated the story line for 15 minutes and I liked it . I told him to work on it. He took two months and later came back to give me a one and a half hour narration. I told him it was scrap and he went back and worked on it for five months. The total script came out well. The minute I heard Surender’s line I said I’m doing this and I won’t be doing anything else. After Athidhi I may do KL Narayana’s and MS Raju’s movie.”