New kid on the block in Tollywood

After Vijay Devarakonda, yet another actor from the Hyderabadi theatre scene to be making his debut in Telugu films as a lead is Ashish Raj, who has also tried his hand at a couple of Hindi films. Ashish is making his debut in Telugu with Akatayi.

Ashish had been giving auditions in Mumbai when he got a call for this movie. “I wanted to return to Hyderabad after attending the Rath Yatra but I couldn’t get a ticket. I took that as an indication that I should stay back in Mumbai.” Ashish stayed back for almost a year and auditioned for films.

“At that time, I got a call from the producers and the director of Akatayi. They narrated the story to me and I liked it. I started to train for the dancing and action sequences before the shooting began. I also lost a lot of weight,” he says, adding, “I wanted to be totally prepared for the film.”

Ashish says, “My theatre stint in Hyderabad helped me a lot. Once I joined the shoot, I discussed the scenes with the director and gave my best. I never expected I’d work with actors like Brahmanandam, Posani and Suman. My dream has come true with this film.”

Before the film, Ashish began his stint in the showbiz as a model. “While I was in theatre, a few people asked me to try my hands at modeling, and I went ahead,” says Ashish.

Talking about Vijay Devarakonda, another actor who’s moved from theatre to cinema, he shares, “I know him as we both worked in theatre, but we never performed together.”

The producer of his debut film is his relative, but Ashish confesses that the call took him by surprise. “I was surprised to know that they were looking for a lead actor for their film. They kept asking me what I was doing in Mumbai, but never gave a hint about the film. One fine day, they just called me to Hyderabad,” he says.

“I used to spend time with director Ram and go early for the shoot. On most days, I couldn’t sleep as I would think about the next day’s scenes and how I could improve,” reveals the debutant.