Varun Tej: I don’t get pleasure from watching romances

Actor Varun Tej has waited 4 years to deliver the Telugu sports activities drama Ghani to the audiences. Because the movie inches in the direction of theatrical launch on April 8, he has been recouping from a bout of viral an infection. An IV cannula is connected to his left wrist and his voice seems strained, however he’s sport for this interview on the manufacturing home’s workplace in Hyderabad: “After we started engaged on the story of Ghani four-and-a-half years in the past, it was just about open floor. We had no concept concerning the different boxing movies, Sarpatta Parambarai or Toofan.”

Varun had recognized Kiran Korrapati who was within the path workforce of his earlier movies. That they had as soon as talked about how unusual it’s to seek out south Indian boxers profitable on the nationwide degree and puzzled if it needed to do with the dearth of coaching services or encouragement. The dialogue additionally veered into the thought of sportsmanship and the game, greater than a sportsperson, rising the winner. “These factors are the undercurrent of Ghani’s story.”

Till then, Varun had been a part of romances, a comedy, a interval drama, area thriller and a gangster drama. Sports activities drama was new terrain. Ghani got here on the heels of Gaddalakonda Ganesh, the Telugu remake of Jigarthanda through which he reprised Bobby Simha’s half. For that movie, director Harish Shankar had urged him to placed on weight to look older and rugged. “I didn’t cease with a number of kilograms,” laughs Varun, “Since Ghani was nonetheless in pre-production phases, I continued to eat properly.”

Boxing mode

The bodily transformation occurred with the assistance of Rakesh Udiyar, health coach to actor and cousin, Ram Charan. Varun additionally learnt boxing within the US. “I had at all times wished to go on a solo journey to the US and took this as a possibility.” He scouted boxing golf equipment in Los Angeles and met Tony Jeffries (bronze medal winner in 2008 Summer season Olympics).

For 45 days, Tony educated Varun within the fundamentals, watching his stance and footwork. Varun then educated with Neeraj Goyat (the primary Indian boxer who made it to WBC World Rankings) and a member of Neeraj’s workforce, Bhupender, in India.

Actor Varun Tej within the Telugu movie ‘Ghani’
| Picture Credit score: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The coaching helped Varun study the game, knock off the surplus kilos and perceive the psyche of a boxer. “I didn’t need to overthink entering into the pinnacle of a boxer, it occurred mechanically with the bodily transformation. Alongside the road, throughout script-reading classes, I unknowingly bought hooked.” Varun provides that the movie is partly a coming-of-age story of a college-goer working in the direction of realising his dream.

The bigger reference factors for the boxing drama had been the Rocky sequence and Million Greenback Child. Nevertheless, Varun asserts that Ghani just isn’t a critical sports activities movie. 

There may be, in fact, the drama that comes with tackling energy play and competitors. “There’s a line within the movie the place I emphasise that no matter whether or not I win or lose, the game will win. My character talks much less and prefers to let his work converse, very similar to me in actual life.”

The pandemic posed challenges. With no readability on when the state of affairs might be conducive to shoot the movie, the health regime and coaching classes went by means of adjustments. “It’s unattainable to sport six pack abs for a very long time. I believe I managed it for about eight days. That is the primary time I used to be put by means of a rigorous routine for health and food plan. In between my sister (Niharika Konidela) bought married, so it was not straightforward.”

Center floor

Since his debut in Mukunda, Varun had largely chosen movies that aren’t formulaic mainstream tasks. The lukewarm reception on the field workplace to the area thriller Antariksham 9000 kmph he says, made him rethink his technique and go for a center floor between unconventional concepts and tales which can be more likely to enchantment to a wider viewers.

Throughout the lockdowns, he watched worldwide content material and was conscious that the Telugu movie audiences had been doing the identical. “We have no idea if our audiences will settle for very new or unconventional concepts. In a current interview, director Rajamouli mentioned nonetheless completely different a narrative is likely to be, the feelings have to attach with a large viewers. I agree with that thought.”

Sai Pallavi and Varun Tej within the 2017 movie ‘Fidaa’

Varun will subsequent be seen within the Anil Ravipudi-directed comedy F3 co-starring Venkatesh, and can start engaged on an motion entertainer directed by Praveen Sattaru. Varun reveals that he at all times wished to do motion movies, nevertheless it took this lengthy to discover a good script. 

Although his romance dramas Tholi Prema and Fidaa turned out to be tremendous hits, Varun says he doesn’t get pleasure from romances. “I’m grateful for being provided Tholi Prema and Fidaa. The success of these movies additionally made me assured of my script choice, however I don’t get pleasure from watching romances.”

Inform him that that is paying homage to Shah Rukh Khan who has typically acknowledged that he didn’t get pleasure from romances, although he was part of blockbuster romances within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, and Varun says with fun, “I by no means knew that; I’m a giant fan of SRK.”