Hello has a whiff of old-world romance, served with a dose of innocence one doesn’t associate with contemporary romances. It’s a dream-like world. But director Vikram Kumar makes us set our cynicism aside and give in to its charm. The film is being received with warmth and its lead actor, Akhil Akkineni, is relieved.
“I know the world isn’t always beautiful or magical. But I wish I could be a part of the fairytale, happy world Vikram Kumar created,” he says, speaking to us soon after the release. “We wanted to make a good film and we worked hard. I love watching classic romances and Vikram made me a part of one such feel-good film,” he says and picks his dad’s Geetanjali , brother’s Ye Maya Chesave and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani among his favourite romances: “These films pull you into a different world. Geetanjali is filmy, it has drama and you fall in love with the characters. Ye Maya Chesave is contemporary, we do come across people who hesitate to make a commitment and Gautam Menon narrated it so beautifully. And I liked how Ranbir Kapoor returns to the girl in Yeh Jawaaani… when he realises that he values being with her more than his own, crazy way of life.”
If Hello , despite its slight Manam hangover and the play of destiny, clicked, it has to do with the team coming together to mount an aesthetic romantic musical. What also worked in favour of Akhil was the director factoring in his strengths. “There’s a lot of the real me on screen. That’s the way I walk, talk… I think if I meet a girl who I take a liking to, this is the way I would speak. I could relate to the scenes. I didn’t feel I was playing someone else,” he explains.
While Akhil and the stunt team rehearsed the action episodes for 50 to 60 days, Vikram Kumar insisted he doesn’t rehearse his dialogues. “The lines are simple and he wanted it to look spontaneous. In certain scenes I added a few words on the spot, thinking how the character would react to the situation,” says Akhil.
The actor knew the outline of the story and did not ask for a narration, having enough faith in Vikram Kumar. The biggest takeaway from the experience of working with the director, says Akhil, was learning to be ‘in the moment’ at all times, “Vikram doesn’t buy fake acting. He wants it to look real and for that you have to be in the moment. I am just two films old, but even if I don’t have a director like him the next time, I know I can apply this learning.”
The actor’s on-screen camaraderie with Ramya Krishna and Jagapati Babu stems from a comfort zone they share over the years. “They know me since I was a baby and I talk to them the way I talk to them in this film. They both are buddies, constantly pulling each other’s leg. That easy bonding shows on screen,” he says.
The action episodes that made use of Akhil’s athletic agility have become a talking point. For this, he trained in Parkour almost every other day from January to March 2017, helped by action choreographer Bob Brown, “We shot the action sequences at a stretch over 30 days from April 3 to May 3. Parkour is tough and we all had to get our timing right and PS Vinod captured it so well. We tried something new and it’s been worth the effort.”
Given his interest in sports all along, we ask him if there was a defining moment when he chose to pursue a career in cinema over sports. “You know, it’s so tough not to be bit by the acting bug being in this film family. It was just a matter of time. My parents didn’t put any pressure on me. Sometime in your teens you have to decide what you want to do. I knew it had to be cinema,” he says.
His debut film Akhil turned out to be a no-show and the actor admits it took him months to come out of what he terms “a mess”. But looking back, he says it was a blessing in disguise. “Maybe I came in with a wrong reason - to be a part of a blockbuster than wanting to make a good film. A film that’s a big mistake changes you a lot. I learnt I cannot take things for granted. I learnt how much an actor has to contribute to a film from pre-production to post-production stages. I found myself in Hello .”
Next up, Akhil wants to take a month off before deciding from two possible projects on hand: “It will be an out-of-the-box project,” he maintains.
Crash course in singing: Akhil surprised his father Nagarjuna by singing ‘Yevevo kalalu kanna’. Speaking to us a few days ago, Nagarjuna had shared, “I went home one evening and Akhil gave me the headphones and asked me to listen to something. I commented that the voice sounded similar to him. He gave me a big smile. I had no idea that he and Anup Rubens had been working on it for three months.” More than the fact that Akhil sang the song, Nag was surprised that he never knew his son could sing.
Akhil reveals, “I was always the shy one around, I wouldn’t sing even in family gatherings. But since a few years ago, I started humming a lot. Anup likes my voice and has been telling me I should sing. I’ve heard many actors sing and sometimes it can go off-key. Anup and I spent over 100 hours in three months and he taught me the basics — breathing technique, voice control, moving from high to low pitch etc. I am nowhere close to a professional singer, but Anup gave me a crash course that helped me sound like one.”
