The Sampoornam effect!

Tollywood's Sampoornesh Babu is a rare phenomenon. He hasn't made a single movie yet (in fact, he has been making trailers for the past one year), has no formal 'filmi links' and is from a town not a lot of people have heard of.

So, why does this man have lakhs of followers on Facebook? Even in the UK and the US, there's a fan following, which has already given him the moniker -'Burning Star'. Such is the craze for him that when this reporter went to watch Pawan Kalyan-starrer 'Atharintiki Daredi' at Borabanda, Pawan's fans threw the flowers meant for him on Sampoo! The film was even stopped midway for 10 minutes because fans wanted to catch a glimpse of the newbie.

He was even mobbed by crazed young girls and boys at a pub. His fans have dedicated several pages to him online and even coined the term 'Sampoornism' like Pawanism. It all started a few months back on his birthday, when Sampoornesh's film poster was released online. It spread like wildfire on social media, with the likes of director Rajamouli tweeting about his eagerness to watch the film.

Apparently, his film was initially supposed to be made on a small budget, but gauging the audience's response to the poster, it has cost over a crore now.

"After the huge response, we decided to make a quality film," Sampoornesh admits.

Born and brought up in Siddhipet, Sampoornesh has always been interested in films. "This is not my real name, but I'd like to stick to it now," reveals Sampoo, who was spotted by director Steven Shankar at a film function. "He was looking for someone who looked completely different from the other actors. And I agreed to do the film because I really liked the subject," he says.

Steven then sent him to Texas to train in acting and dance. "The director has worked in the USA earlier and has friends there," Sampoo explains.

Budding actor Naveen Chandra recently celebrated his birthday and invited Sampoo as well. Even at the party, all the young actors clicked pictures with him. He doesn't understand why people are crazy about him. "It's all God's grace. I never imagined that I would become this famous," he says.

Dismissing the rumours that his film 'Hrudaya Kaleyam' is a spoof, Sampoornesh says, "It’s a serious story and the audience will enjoy it. We have just used the names of top Tollywood actors in one song."

Flooded with offers and calls from Tollywood, he is determined to stay away from character and comic roles and stick to playing the lead. "I don’t mind playing important characters. Maruthi garu has offered me a good character in his upcoming film 'Kotha Janta'," says Sampoo, adding that his next film title is 'Kobbari Matta'.

"I play a dual role and the film will begin in February next year. It’s a family drama," he reveals.

His favourite actors are Samantha and Mahesh Babu and he plans to meet director Rajamouli next week.