Sourabh Raj Jain: Playing the Divine

The actor is all set to play the mythological character of Lord Venkateswara, in the film, Om Namo Venkatesaya that stars Nagarjuna and is directed by veteran K. Raghavendra Rao. “After seeing my Lord Krishna role in the serial, Mahabharat, they approached me, but my initial response over phone was ‘No’, as I don’t like being in the same genre,” reveals Sourabh Jain.

But the makers called him yet again, requesting him to meet them in Hyderabad, to know more about the story. “After meeting them, I felt I was being foolish to refuse the project. It was a blessing and a big opportunity to debut in Telugu films, with legends like Nagarjuna and K. Raghanvendra Rao,” says Sourabh. The actor feels that the role he will be playing in his debut, is different when compared to his earlier mythological roles. “The story is interesting. We all know about Lord Venkateswara, but don’t know much about Hatiram Baba, so that helped me give my nod,” he adds. “It’s also any actor’s dream to work with a director who has done more than 100 films,” says Sourabh. The actor says that he had watched Nagarjuna’s Hindi films, but once he signed this project, he had watched Annamayya. “I had prepared in my mind to meet a big star, but when we actually met, he was very normal, very grounded, friendly and humble and I can’t imagine that he is known to be the ‘King’ here,” reveals Sourabh, about Nagarjuna.

Talking about his role, he says that it is easy for him to carry the same image from his earlier mythological roles, only, this one has more depth. “When I play Lord Vishnu in serials, it restricts all actions to a calendar pose. Lord Krishna role is more of a strategist and planner, but when it comes to this film, it carries the same divinity and mannerism, but with a lot of emotions. It’s about the chemistry between two friends, where they play and speak about their personal lives. It’s not that the Lord gives gyan or a devotional speech, it’s more about expression and emotion,” reveals Sourabh.

He explains that the language is new and difficult to follow. “I expressed this to the director, who indicated that he will give instructions, which I have to simply and blindly follow,” says the telly star. “All the scenes with dialogues and Telugu recordings come to me a day in advance, and I learn and practice them. They have also given me a tutor too, since the film’s lines are quite different from other regular films. I render all the dialogues on my own, while shooting with the right expressions, but of course, somebody will dub for my character,” he says.

Talking of typecasting, he says it depends on the mind of the creative person. “If you look at it with a creative mind, you can see me in a role. I am ready to portray any kind of role that includes negativity, if it is a challenging one. I want to do more Telugu films,” he confesses.