Taking it slow: Tollywood believes stardom to be achieved with their 7th film

There’s a belief in Tollywood that many actors achieved stardom with their seventh film. For Mahesh Babu it was Okkadu, for Pawan Kalyan it was Khushi, for Jr NTR it was Simhadri and for Ram Charan it was Yevadu.

Now, Aadi is looking forward to Friday, for the release of his seventh film Garam. “I too have heard about the ‘seventh film sentiment’, but I don’t believe in it,” says the actor, adding, “I am confident about the story and the director.

“I am not aiming to become a big star like Mahesh Babu or Ram Charan with just one film. I am slowly working towards reaching a good position by choosing different scripts,” he says.

He adds that though some of his earlier films might not have clicked, as an actor he has never failed.

“The audience knows that I always do good work. Their positive remarks have helped me build my career and helped me try to do good films,” he says.

Aadi also gives credit to his father Sai Kumar, who has produced Garam. “He took the entire pressure off me and never took a step back when it came to the budget. We shot three songs in Italy, which was his plan. Though I was against it, he forced us because the songs were really important for the film. It cost us nearly Rs1 crore,” he says.

“I have seen him struggle when I was a kid. He waited for so many years to get a lead role in a film,” he says, adding, “My father started earning from when he was in his X standard. He took care of the whole family and he even got his sister married. Then he ensured that his brothers settled down… He shifted from Telugu to the Kannada industry and there the film Police Story changed everything and he never looked back. So I know how tough this industry is, it’s not easy to become a big star,” he adds.

Aadi would watch a lot of action films as a kid. “When I was a kid Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh were the big stars. I can’t tell you the number of times that I watched Gang Leader and Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari. I have grown up watching films and I always wanted to become an actor,” he says. “I got many offers from Kannada. Even the Telugu blockbuster Pataas was offered to me, but I told them that it was too early in my career to play a police officer,” says the actor.

Another reason for not doing Kannada films is that Aadi wants to become successful in Tollywood first. “My father told me to become a successful star here and then enter Kannada. Otherwise people would think that because I didn’t get a chance here I went to the Kannada industry,” he says.

Garam took more than a year to complete. Explains the actor, “We waited for the correct artistes. Brahmanandam and Posani Krishna Murali are very busy artistes and we hardly got three days in a month. So the remaining 27 days I just sat at home, going to the gym. We also waited for other artistes like Nasser Sir. But it was worth the wait,” he says.

The actor says he misses his two-month-old daughter. “I have hardly spent 10 days with her as I am busy with the film’s promotions. Also, once the film releases I will go to Rajahmundry and watch the film with my wife there. That’s my Valentine’s Day gift to her,” he says.