Ajay who did a sparkling debut as an eve teaser in Kushi film has come a long way by doing roles of bigger stature infilms like Okkadu, Pokiri, Chatrapati and Vikramarkudu. Now he is being launch as hero with a thriller titled ‘Aa Okkadu’ which is due for the release on 5 June. Idlebrain.com caught up with this talented actor for an exclusive interview. Here are the excerpts -

How your ambition of becoming hero is materialized?
It was Teja who said that I had hero qualities after making me do a fearsome villain in his film Lakshmi Kalyanam. Madan announced a movie with me as hero which was supposed to start after the release of Gunde Jhallumandi. Somehow, it didn’t get materialized.

Sudhakar has been a good friend of me since the last 7 years. Both of us came to film industry during the same time. They were planning a thriller with Murthy as the director and they opined that I could suit the main lead. Murthy worked as an assistant of Chandra Sekhar Yeleti for the thriller Anukokunda Oka Roju.

Tell us about Aa Okkadu?
Aa Okkadu is a complicated story narrated in a simple way by Murthy. Murthy learnt the art of narrating a story in a sensible and matured way from Chandra Sekhar Yeleti. The story is of thriller nature and one would not predict what is going to happen next. This film sports one of the best screenplays in recent times.

Producer Ganesh Indukuri is doing superb publicity to the movie and he is taking it to the crowds of all centers in an effective way. Production of the movie was also handled with high standards.

You are becoming a hero after doing many villain characters. Are you feeling any burden?
In other films, my character used to be of 20 minutes screen time and in this movie I am doing a 2 hour role. Apart from that I don’t feel any additional burden. I am doing this movie just like I had done my earlier movies. There is some pressure in the sense that the box office fate would have direct reflection in my future as hero. I have nothing to lose now as I can always fall back on character roles. What ever I get from this point of my career can be treated a bonus.

What is your goal as an actor?
The life span of actors’ career has become shorter day by day. The actors of golden age use to have decades of career. But actors in the present generation have only few years. I want to stay in Telugu film industry for a long time by doing all characters of competent nature. I will continue doing other characters even after I become successful as a hero.

How do you spend time with family?
I lived like a king for 24 years and then got married. I did what all I could by the time I got married. I am a complete family man now. I spend my time with my family if I am not shooting. I am completely domesticated.

You are given loud characters in most of your movies. Do you like playing subtle characters as well?
Villain has to be loud in Telugu films. Hence, I hardly got any chance to do subtle performance. The character I played in Aa Okkadu is a subtle character with naturalistic performance.

What are the films you are currently doing?
After accepting hero role in Aa Okkadu, I decided to be more disciplined in choosing the roles. I am doing only characters with substance. I am doing the role of villain in Arya 2. I am doing the role of main negative guy in Charmme’s Sye Aata. I am doing a good role in Yagam. I am doing the title role in DS Kannan’s Sarai Veerraju.

Tell us about your next movie Sarai Veerraju?
70% of the shooting is over. And the latest schedule is taking place from 1st June. It is a commercial entertainer that is being made simultaneously in both Telugu and Tamil. This film will sport raw emotions like Paruthiveeran and Mrigam though there is no relevance to any of those story lines. It will be a family entertainer and it would also be liked by females.

How did you manage looks as both these films are contrast in nature?
Costumes did the trick for me. Sarai Veerraju needs eccentric performance. Aa Okkadu demands subtle acting

. I think I had done justice to both these roles.