Fifteen days into his first shoot in Bollywood, Telugu superstar Ram Charan says he is impressed with the way the industry functions. “Dad (Chiranjeevi) had told me that things are very professional around here. People are very to-the-point in their dealings and there are no time delays. I totally agree with it,” opines Ram Charan, who is ready for his Bollywood debut with the remake of Amitabh Bachchan's 1973 hit film Zanjeer to be directed by Apoorva Lakhia and co-starring Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal and Prakash Raj. But the actor is not making any big noise about the great opportunity. Hoping his work will speak for itself, all he says is, “I am honoured to have been chosen for an Amitabh Bachchan film.”
The actor is doing his best to keep away from Zanjeer right now. “It's difficult to contribute to the character if you see the original a hundred times. I have just seen the important and popular bits for my reference. We are also not making Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan's screen name in the original) a stylish metro sexual man. We want him to be as gritty and simple as can be. No gloss here,” says the actor.
Zanjee r is the story of Inspector Vijay, an upright officer, who has been seething with anger ever since he witnessed his parents' murder as a child. He cannot bear to see wrong and loses control over himself easily. The film not only gave Amitabh Bachchan his famous Angry Young Man tag but also signalled a shift in Hindi films — from romance to action.
This is not just Ram Charan's first mainstream Hindi film; he has also never played a cop before. “In fact, that was one of the major reasons why I signed the film,” he quips, adding that he had his doubts about accepting it and kept the thought on hold for four months. “Amit Mehra (producer) was interested in making this film and Apoorva with his keen sense of action was roped in and then the two of them approached me having seen my films. But this was outside my comfort zone and language was a barrier. I said yes only when I realised two things — one was that the movie was super popular and the other was that I work best under pressure,” he laughs.
The ‘pressure' that he is speaking of is his mastery over Hindi. “I can speak a little bit of Hindi but understand every word. In our first schedule, I have shot for only solo scenes and have discovered that my Hindi is not as bad as I thought!”
With this shift in industries, he feels there is no need to jump for joy. “My fans are happy with me acting in Bollywood. Personally, I am treating this like any other film of mine. I don't see any sense in stressing myself over the idea that this is Bollywood and things work differently here. Stress shows on the face and the work!”
