Puri Jagannath’s son, Akash Puri is ready to make his debut as the lead actor in Andhra Pori, a remake of the Marathi film Time Pass. While all eyes are on the 17-year-old — who began his career at the age of 8 starring as young Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan, Balakrishna and Ram Charan in numerous films Akash admits how he initially didn’t want to do this film.
“The plan was for my father to launch me as a lead actor in one of his films when I was 20-21 years old. I wanted to take a break from acting for a couple of years and go to New York Film Academy. But then this film came along and my father felt it was the perfect role for me,” says Akash.
“It’s an amazing script and a role I can take on at my age. In fact, I am also very excited because I wanted to be a lead actor in a film right from a very young age and now my dream is coming true. But I don’t want to sign any more films after this. I am praying that after I am done with this film, I do not come across any good scripts!” adds Akash, who is currently studying Class XI at Meridian College.
“I have got permission from my college to shoot for the film, which has been going on for the past one month. It’s not really hectic, because I have been doing this since I was 8, so I have learnt how to balance different aspects of my life. Moreover, I always keep my dad’s advice in mind — be focused, think through every scene and act like everything depends on it,” says Akash.
The film is based on the theme of teenage romance. Akash, however, is grateful for on thing no awkward love scenes; especially keeping in mind that his mother, Lavanya, accompanies him to the shoots.
“Thankfully, there are no romantic scenes. There are no hugging and definitely no kissing scenes,” says Akash, adding, “I play the role of ‘low-class guy’. So to get into the character, I attended the workshops that were being held for the cast.”
The shoot is currently underway at Bhadrachalam, a town in Khammam district and the movie might release by February.” The lead actress of the film is Ulka Gagan Gupta, who has previously acted in the popular TV show, Jhansi ki Rani.
“She is three months older than me, so she calls me ‘bachha’ (kid) on the sets. We are good friends, always cracking jokes and playing pranks on each other. We work together from 6 am to 6 pm, so it’s only natural to end up being friends even though I have never worked with Ulka before,” says Akash.
