Nikhil is always full of beans, his energy palpable at any time of the day. Over 11 years and 17 films, he has evolved as an actor and person. With a few successful films in his kitty and working on a few more, Niklhil is in a happy space, despite courting controversy for various reasons. As he looks forward to the release of Mudra, Nikhil also gives us a peak into his next projects and gives clarifications on his controversial opinions.
Playing a reporter
Clearing the air about Mudra being a remake of the Tamil film Kanithan , Nikhil insists Mudra is just inspired by Kanithan , but not related to the original at all. He says, “ Mudra has a very exciting segment which has been changed a lot. Kiraak Party was a faithful remake. Mudra isn’t; I liked the plot of Kanithan and thought we should change the whole film. It deals with the problem of unemployment that students face. I play a very responsible electronic media reporter Arjun Lenin Suravaram who belongs to a family of media professionals, my grandad, dad etc. People believe what we say is true so we need to be careful. There are two sides to the media — some sensationalise, some report facts. Media has the power to change society, so while playing a scribe, I felt powerful, like God sometimes.”
Nikhil opines that films like Kiraak Party, Bangalore Days, Happy Days shouldn’t be remade. He thinks Kiraak Party turned out to be a profitable venture as it was made with a budget of five crore. He rues, “I am not happy as it didn’t match up to Karthikeya or Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada .”
He points out one reason for the low success rate of films — the lack of good scripts. He observes, “Innovative scripts are rare; when I watch movies like Badhaai Ho and Andhadhun , I wonder why we don’t have such stories. I am an actor and I can’t create scripts. I can only do what comes to me.”
As for the race to be a star, Nikhil states, “There are so many stars already. No hero is a competition for the other. There are 140 films and I can’t do all of them, may be I can do just two in a year. There are hardly 15 heroes who have a box office pull, I have mine and they have theirs. As long as people appreciate my work I am happy.”
Future projects
His next film Shwasa , to be directed by a debutant, will be followed by Karthikeya 2 to be helmed by Chandoo Mondeti.
Nikhil made news for a controversial tweet that seemed to take a jibe at Vijay Deverakonda’s attitude and thus upset fans. He says by nature he has always been expressive and his tweet was a general comment, not targeted at anyone. He clarifies, “I stated that every actor has his own space and no one is competition to anyone. Since that could be misinterpreted, I was requested to delete it. I obliged.” It is true he has never been politically correct; even earlier he tweeted about petrol hike and other issues.
Nikhil signs off citing his recent trip to Chicago and Seattle to raise funds for Srikakulam flood victims. If there is an opportunity to do something good or speak something right, he will certainly utilise that space, he claims.
