Meet Andhra Pradesh's ‘Amitabh Bachchan’, working as freelance cameraman

Hyderabad: If you thought that there was only one person who was called the “Andhra Amitabh” in the state and that it was Ravi Teja, let us introduce you to someone who even Tollywood actors refer to as the Amitabh of the state. Meet Gopi, a 47-year-old who well, has been famous since school.

Currently, a freelance cameraman, Gopi has a lot of stories to share about how many times he was mistaken for the Bollywood legend, especially when shooting in foreign locations.

“Sometimes, when I put on a nice coat and wear my black goggles, I have a lot more people coming up to me and asking for autographs. But then I tell them I am not the real Big B and I have never given a fake autograph,” says the man from Rajahmundry.

Gopi was painfully conscious of his height as early as sin Class VII. “I was almost six-feet tall. And in the 1970s, the world was crazy about Amitabh. Finally, his fame reached the little town of Rajahmundry after the release of Coolie,” recalls Gopi, who also played along, and got comfortable with this frame, with bell bottoms and that special “step cut” for his hair.

Over the years, he claims to have received calls from directors, like Dasari Narayan Rao and Teja, for film roles. But his destiny was behind the camera.

“The shoots would never happen. And since I was from a big joint family, I had bigger responsibilities and money was important. When I realised that acting wasn’t going to bring me any money, I moved on. I started off as a darkroom assistant in Vijayawada and then worked as a assistant cameraman. Even today, I work with dark shots like 3D holography. So it’s been a journey from the darkroom to director of photography.”

Now a father, Gopi consciously decided not to name his son Abhishek. “I wanted to give it a twist and name my son after Amitabh’s father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan,” he laughs.