At a time when most actors who get a toehold into the film industry would be signing films left, right and centre, Visakhapatnam boy Satyadev Kancharana chooses to be different. He prefers to pick and choose his roles and film projects. And the characters he plays do not usually tread the tried and tested path.
Satyadev started his career as a short filmmaker in Visakhapatnam and ventured into feature films with Mr. Perfect in 2011 in a character role. He appeared in small roles for the next couple of years in films like Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu , Attarintiki Daredi and Mukunda before landing a major role in Maine Pyaar Kiya .
The film wherein Satyadev portrayed the role of a 40-year-old man with effortless ease brought the young actor critical acclaim. Later, Satya bagged the lead role in Puri Jagannath’s Jyothi Lakshmi after being selected from over 500 artists who auditioned for it. The film provided Satya a much needed recognition in the film industry.
He was recently seen in the film The Ghazi Attack where he plays the character of the sonar operator, where he sends and decodes signals for the submarine.
The young actor with his unconventional good looks and neat acting skills managed to bring alive some of the critical moments of the film featuring him which marks the film’s turning point.
“Being born and brought up in Visakhapatnam, the story of the sinking of Ghazi and the 1971 Indo-Pak war was something we had grown up listening to. But I didn’t know the entire history of the incident before I got to play a part in the film. Working with such a talented cast and crew was a great learning experience for me,” says Satyadev.
Recollecting the film shoots, he says, “The shoot would begin at 6 a.m. and I would be waiting to get to the submarine sets. Director Sankalp Reddy was a walking encyclopaedia on submarines and had done extensive research on this chapter of history. With such talented senior actors around, it would feel like history has come alive on the sets.”
To lend authenticity to his role, Satyadev had downloaded some sonar operator manuals to understand the technical terms and get the right hand movements for communication as a sonar operator.
“I had limited dialogues in the film. My facial expressions and gestures were important to get across the message,” says the actor. Speaking about the sharing the sets with senior actors like Kay Kay Menon, he says: “Kay Kay sir is a class apart. He breathes the character from the time he sets his foot on the film set. He used to walk around the set like a captain of the submarine even off camera to sink into the character he played.” A B. Tech graduate in computer science, he had a passion for acting in films since childhood. “I used to stand in front of the mirror and say the dialogues and emote. Though I was aware that the success rate in film industry was one percent and how difficult it was to survive, I wanted to try my luck as an actor. I am open to playing character roles. All that I see is a good character and a strong storyline where I can showcase my acting skills. At the end of the day I want to known for my acting skills,” says the 29-year-old.
Satyadev is currently shooting in Visakhapatnam for Pradeep Maddali’s untitled thriller in which he plays the lead.
He will be seen as the lead in the debutant director Mohan Bommidi’s Guvva Gorinka .
