Balayya is like a brother: Shiva Rajkumar

For Kannada superstar Shiva Rajkumar, being a part of Balakrishna’s landmark 100th film Gautamiputra Satakarni happened unexpectedly, and saying no wasn’t an option at all. “It’s like a family film for me. NTR (Sr) and my father (Rajkumar) were like brothers and now Balakrishna and I share a similar bond too. We have an amazing rapport and meet very often. He always meets when he’s in Bangalore and had invited me for the Lepakshi Utsav in Anantapur too. It is an absolute honour to be part of a film which is so important for him. I think I fit their bill and hope I did a good job,” says the actor, talking about how the film happened.

The actor who was last seen by the Telugu audiences in Killing Veerappan, dubbed into Telugu from Kannada, reveals that shooting on the sets of Gautamiputra Satakarni was no different from any Kannada film he has shot. “Everyone went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. The whole atmosphere was so good that the four days I shot felt less like work and more like a picnic. The entire unit treated me like their brother. I felt so much at home and will surely remember this experience for a long time,” he states.

Despite having such a vast experience in cinema, Telugu is something that the actor isn’t very familiar with. “Bagaledu,” he says talking about his fluency in the language as he adds with a laugh, “I had a lot of help and wrote down everything in a way I could understand. I perform a kind of ballad, but not in the regular Telugu dialect. I can’t divulge all that but I’d say I really loved the experience because the song is beautifully composed and full of emotion. I think I can learn the language if I spend more time on it. For now I know only koncham.” Would he consider making a full-fledged entry in Tollywood? “Absolutely! I hope so! My dubbed films have already released in Telugu, but I really want to do a straight film. I may have something planned by the end of 2017. I want to enter with a unique character, not something regular. Let’s see how it pans out,” he says.