“Whether it is a relationship with family members, girlfriends, friends, or co-workers – every relationship is important. Even a casual acquaintance means something to me.”
“Being a person of the armed forces is not easy. Performing it is also not easy. There is a sense of discipline and body language that you need to have throughout.”
“I loved ‘A Wednesday’; it is one of my top favourite films of all time.”
“My family has always believed that anybody can do anything if you are trained for it. So I trained with Barry John’s in Mumbai, did marital arts, and then went to stunt school in the U.S.”
“I enjoy being myself on television, where I am not enacting a character.”
“Incidents of the past – a lost love, a missed opportunity – shape us and make us what we are.”
“For evening workouts, I work out two body parts; a big muscle and a small, like, say, the chest and the triceps. I lift crazy weights and take no breaks while I’m at it.”
“Rumours die out faster than they are born, and I’m prepared for them.”
“I have never understood why promotion is such a big thing in Hindi films.”
“’Ghazi’ has underwater stunts and was physically taxing. That added to my cardio routine.”
“I believe that the mistakes you make in the past are learning experiences and make you grow as a human.”
“In ‘The Beginning,’ each one of us was introduced, but the audience didn’t know our back stories and the drama. You wouldn’t have known how deep Bhallaladeva’s jealousy for Baahubali is.”
“If you live the way others want you to, you are called a nice guy. If you live the way you want, you are called selfish.”
“Each character, be it the antagonist or the protagonist, brings with himself his own personality… and I have tried to stay true to each one of them; each is enjoyable in their own way!”
“Thanos is undoubtedly the most powerful entity and villain the world has ever seen – he is virtually indestructible. Imagine a villain so menacing that all the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and their allies have to come together in a hope to defeat this one guy; such characters come to you once in a lifetime!”
“Genetically, I am built big and strong.”
“I always believe an actor is as good as the content as he gets or chooses.”
“My thatha’s death was the biggest blow I’ve dealt with in all my life. I have never seen death in my family, especially not of someone who’s so close to me… I might be this big guy from the outside, but I’m very sensitive when it comes to my family.”
“Should I tell you one thing, I am blind from my right eye. I see only from my left eye. The one you see is someone else’s eye which was donated to me after his death. If I close my left eye, I can see no one.”
“Most of the things in your life are not in your control – the family you are born into, the parents, and the siblings you have. It is only friendship and love that you create for yourself in this lifetime.”
“It’s awesome that we can make more and more movies that are crossing boundaries.”
“We see many posters and standees at cinema halls, and some catch attention. But these posters are soon forgotten. Taking a picture with the actors, enabled by AR, helps record a memory.”
“Over time, I decided to take up only those stories I love.”
“I didn’t set out to be a regular hero.”
“Give me something new, and I’ll do it with all my heart.”
“Not all stories are meant for the big screen.”
“Social media is just a platform. What some people decide to do with it results in something good or bad.”
“Every story has a place where it deserves to be told.”
“While we were shooting ‘Baahubali,’ I had a knee injury, and a few months later, Prabhas injured his shoulder. Those two injuries meant a break of around five months from the schedule. So around that time, I was doing absolutely nothing, and Neeraj Pandey called me with ‘Baby.’”
“I want to do films that are genre-based and character-based.”
“I want to be part of movies which set benchmarks for a new kind of cinema.”
“Getting out of a character is emotionally taxing. You get used to being a person on camera, and when you move on, the character remains with you for a long time.”
“’Baahubali’ has done to Indian cinema what ‘Star Wars’ has done to America.”
“’Baahubali’ was really the film that broke most barriers of what regional cinema can do nationally.”
“I have grown up watching franchise-based movies like ‘Star Wars’ and read ‘Amar Chitra Katha’ and had aspired to do cinema like that.”
“I started doing visual effects for many years, and after that, I became an actor.”
“Cinema plays an important role in uniting the entire nation as a single unit.”
“I have been in the industry for about 15 years, and every day has been a learning experience, thanks to changing trends and technology.”
“If it was a risk, I wouldn’t have done ‘Baahubali.’”
“If you want to tell a new story, it is a risk. But then you have to do it in the best financial way as possible.”
“Most of my films have been very character driven.”
“When I was doing ‘Baahubali 2,’ the story was being discussed with many people. The story evolved over 9-10 months in that way.”
“My father is someone who asks doubts, thereby triggering new thoughts.”
“Had I not done ‘Baahubali,’ perhaps ‘Ghazi’ wouldn’t have happened.”
“There is no pressure from my family to get married.”
“My first film, ‘Leader,’ created a lot of political drama. Its release was pushed back twice.”
“When a director from Hindi cinema is looking for an actor from another language, it will be only because he feels the character justifies this and that can only be for a well-written character.”
“My only plan is to be versatile. That’s how I started, and that’s how I will continue.”
“Trust me: I eat a lot. I am a big guy.”
“The good thing about Hyderabad is the variety of cuisine available. From Nizami cuisine to Andhra food to Telengana delicacies, you are spoilt for choice.”
“It’s only when I have to do some bare body shots that I cut down on fat.”
“Hindi film industry makes film for the rest of the world. Tamil films are watched by Malay people. When a film is not bound by a language, why should an actor be?”
“I don’t understand why they keep forks and spoons on the table while serving biryani. You are supposed to eat it with your hand, and I prefer it that way.”
“Food is my big connect to Old City, and I discovered the culture and history of the city by exploring food joints.”
“I have grown fond of the food which is made in Barkas, and I try to go there at least once a week. Some of the food joints don’t even have a proper name, but it’s so different compared to rest of the places in Hyderabad.”
“My grandfather D. Ramanaidu has been in the film business for over 50 years, so I grew up in films.”
“I try and strike a balance between being sensible and sensitive.”
“I don’t stress too much on things, be it failure or success.”
“What other people think of me is their problem – not mine.”
“Abhimanyu Singh is a great guy to work with. He’s very hard working.”
“Mumaith Khan has unbelievable energy. She is a powerhouse performer.”
“Language has never been a barrier for me. I grew up learning Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil.”
“I want to do films in different languages because I want to tell stories in different genres.”
“When ‘Dum Maro Dum’ came my way, I took it up without thinking that I was crossing any boundary. It was a good film, and I wanted to do it.”
“For ‘Dum Maro Dum,’ I had a diction tutor, as I had to get rid of my Hyderabadi Hindi and learn Goan Hindi. It wasn’t easy, because these two kinds of Hindi were mutually incompatible. I had to unlearn one kind of Hindi and then learn a new kind.”
“The pacing in Tamil and Telugu is very different from Malayalam cinema.”
“In every film, you get a chance to travel down a new path.”
“If I feel like too much of a star, I can head to Chennai and be a regular guy.”
“I’ve been a part of cool films without even romancing.”
“We are moving into a phase where what was once alternative cinema is becoming mainstream. I like being in that space.”
“You never know when you actually fall in love.”
“’Naa Ishtam’ is my first commercial Telugu film. That was exciting.”
“It wasn’t easy to shoot for ‘Baahubali.’ It was very painful and annoying.”
“It’s always nice to have another filmmaker to reassure you that you are making a good quality film.”
“I made a decent debut in Bollywood with ‘Dum Maaro Dum.’”
“For two years, I was without a movie down South, and ‘Department’ proved a disaster; people don’t even remember the film.”
“A myth that operated for a year was that my broad structure secretly held a deadly body. I was so wary of my burgeoning tummy that I would conceal it by wearing very loose clothes.”
“As a child, I was into cricket and boxing in school.”
“Hyderabad can be harsh to a foodie like me. The haleems and the biryanis are in your face. It’s hard to overcome temptations and harder not to binge.”
“I love to be in the entertainment space, and my aim is to create new content and entertain people, whether it’s in movies or on TV.”
“I truly believe that cinema is a collaborative effort, and as long as I get to tell, and be part of, interesting stories and work with genuine people, I don’t see any project as a ‘risk.’”
“Before I became an actor, I was a producer and a visual effects supervisor. Our industry wasn’t making the kind of films I was interested in.”
“I am becoming the ‘war lord’ actor, be it in ‘Baahubali’ or ‘Ghazi’ or ‘Madai Thiranthu.’ I am proud to be a part of these films.”
“I love the characters in ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘House of Cards.’”
“Any skill requires training. I took the corporate approach to acting and wanted to develop the necessary skills.”
“’Leader’ is a political drama. It’s the story of a character who understands what the people want.”
“I want to do films in as many genres – action, fantasy, period, classic love stories – as I can. I don’t want to pigeon-hole myself.”
“When I watch films, I skip songs. I don’t like them.”
“I find Katrina Kaif attractive and would like to work with her some day.”
“I don’t enjoy doing over-the-top action entertainers.”
“I grew up understanding cinema from early on and was soon cinema-literate.”
“I don’t want to do the song-dance formula; there are many people doing it, right?”
“It was the reason why I became an actor – to tell new stories – and I stick to that, which is how I found ‘Ghazi.’”
“By logic, it’s a handicap. If I shut one eye, I can’t see from the other eye. But it is one of those things which I don’t think too much about. One needs to have the strength to move forward.”
“I am really happy with the appreciation ‘Baahubali’ is receiving. Its success proves that if you back the right content, it can travel across the country and the globe.”
“’Baahubali’ team is not after numbers. If we would have been number guys, we would have never made a film with such a huge budget. We just wanted to make the biggest war film of this country, but what it has achieved is amazing.”
“I have grown up reading Marvel Comics and Marvel movies with their intricately woven storylines. It is fascinating to see how Marvel has created characters and stories that resonate so well with audiences across the globe, making movies at a scale that one had never before imagined.”
“I’m definitely open to doing a Malayalam film.”
“I’ve always been a big fan of Anjali Menon as a director and have watched most of her films, too.”
“I believe that you become a better actor only when you work with people far better than you are.”
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