Telugu-Tamil producer Thyagarajan has bought the South Indian language rights for two Hindi hit films, Vikas Behl's 'Queen' and Neeraj Pandey's 'Special 26.' He wants me to play Akshay Kumar's role in the Telugu version of 'Special 26.' Akshay and I even look similar, physique-wise.
Commercial Bengali movies are all crass imitation of Telugu and Tamil movies. There are only a handful of directors like Rituparno Ghosh, Aparna Sen and Gautam Ghose who make quality films.
I have a problem with the present definition of commercial films. To me, 'Ghare and Baire' is an absolute mainstream film. There are also many films I have worked in that have been called art films by many. But I consider commercial.
Telugu and Tamil industries keenly watch Malayalam movies and are appreciative of the content, be it 'Ustad Hotel,' 'Premam' or 'Bangalore Days.' They've also been listening to our music. That's how I was approached for Telugu films.
As long as I am acting, I will do only Telugu films. I want to take Telugu films to the world. Everyone should talk about our films.
I've acted in Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu films.
I've done a host of Tamil and Telugu films, a Bengali one, too.
I have done films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada. I don't find any difference.
Bollywood is a different ballgame. I am quite used to Tamil and Telugu films.
I can never take a break from Telugu films, because they have given me a lot of recognition. No matter how busy I am or the number of films that I do elsewhere, I always keep my schedule free for at least two to three films in Telugu.
Hardly any filmmakers can just make anything they want. Obviously, there are some exceptions, like Steven Spielberg, but he has that mainstream mentality and the kinds of films he loves to make are the kind that appeal to this big, mass audience.
I have been watching all kind of films and I am a bit familiar with Kannada, Telugu and Tamil.
I am very happy that all my films are getting positive reports in both Telugu and Tamil.
There is a space for all sorts of films because the audience wants to watch all kinds of films at the end of the day.
In fact, my earliest films were in Tamil and Telugu and since then I have been acting in all languages.
Telugu is a lot like Kannada, so I don't have a problem with Telugu. But Tamil is very difficult to learn, man.