Telugu cinema star Varun Tej is once again coming to the Hindi audience with the film 'Matka'. Before this, he has been seen in the film 'Operation Valentine'. During an exclusive conversation with Frontpage Insights, the actor revealed that his father never made films for him. He also said that managers and talent agencies are not prevalent in the Telugu film industry.
Varun Tej's father Nagendra Babu is a big producer of Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan happen to be his uncles. Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Sai Tej and Panja Vaishnav Tej are his cousins. Despite being associated with such a big film family, Varun Tej has made his mark in the industry on his own. Read here some exclusive excerpts from the conversation with Varun Tej…
Tell us about the movie 'Matka'? The film is inspired by the life of Ratan Khatri, the famous matka king of the 1970s. How he came to India as a refugee from Burma in 1960. Here's how he became the Matka King. It shows his entire journey from 20 years to 60 years. The film is releasing simultaneously in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages on 14 November 2024.
How challenging is it to play a realistic character? This is definitely inspired by the life of Matka King Ratan Khatri, but in this I am playing the fictional character of Vasu. Karuna Kumar, the director of the film, has done a lot of research. We present the story of Ratan Khatri in a new style. We did a workshop with the director to understand the character. In this you will see glimpses of Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan and Marlon Brando in me.
What are your favorite 1970s movies? I started watching 80s movies. Initially I watched many Telugu movies. My favorite Hollywood movie is 'The Godfather'. Marlon Brando is an amazing actor. Apart from him, Al Pacino also acted in this film. I like many of his films. The first movie I watched in Hindi was Sanjay Dutt's 'Vastav'.
More than half of your family is in the Telugu industry. So you might have thought that you want to pursue a career in acting? From childhood, the atmosphere at home was such that films were always discussed. School holidays were also spent shooting for father's films. Whenever I got a chance to travel abroad, film songs were shot there as well. Cinema has made such an impact that I decided that I want to do something in this industry. The idea of becoming an actor came later. Initially, I wanted to try directing, but found it too difficult.
There must have been a lot of support from the family, but what challenges did you face? My father is a big producer in Telugu film industry, but he never produced any film for me. Debut as a child actor in Telugu film 'Hands Up'. For that, the film's director Shiv Nageswara Rao spoke to Dad. After this I made my debut in 2014 with the Telugu film 'Mukunda'. Whenever the music or trailer of my film is launched, my family members come to support me.
I believe there is a struggle for an actor even after the first film. Every Friday the actor's luck changes. Despite being a hit film, one has to work hard for the next film. The biggest challenge for an actor is choosing a good script.
How much do you understand about the Hindi film industry, before your film 'Operation Valentine' was released in Hindi? The working method is slightly different. Managers and talent agencies are not prevalent in our Telugu film industry. If anyone wants to narrate the script to me, they can call me directly. The rest of the process of making a film is the same, only the approach is different here. People come into the industry for the passion, because there are many ways to make money.
Have you dubbed the film in Hindi? Not for this movie. The previous film 'Operation Valentine' was dubbed in Hindi. For that I learned Hindi for four months. But 'Matka' was to be dubbed in just six days. I couldn't do the dubbing in such a short time, but I have dubbed the trailer and the teaser.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
