With seasoned star Ravi Teja appearing in a movie based on the real-life story of a thief in ‘Tiger Nagwesrao Rao,’ it looks like actors playing criminals is a new fad in Tollywood.
The Mass Maharaja is reprising a real-life thief of Stuatpuram in Bapatla who sent shivers down the spine of cops in the 1970s. “Superstars playing roles with grey shades are not new in Tollywood. Actually, noted thief Tiger Nageswara Rao was considered a Robin Hood in his region as he helped poor people with his loot. He gave cops a tough time with his brains and brawn.
Although a real-life story inspired it, we have added a lot of fiction and took cinematic liberties to make it a commercial entertainer to cater to the masses in a big way,” says producer Abhishek Agarwal, who is promoting the film in a big way in Hindi.
Just a few months ago, Ravi Teja went on a killing spree in his film ‘Ravanasura’ and showed that he could give villains a run for their money by spilling the blood of opponents. “People with grey shades always draw big attention, so we designed such a character that showcased varied shades including dark,” says producer Abhishek Nama, who adds that even media has begun glorifying criminals in real life.
“For instance, a person who murdered a few people would be given page one coverage, whereas a person who has done good things would be relegated to the last pages. Even people are more curious to know about criminals than good Samaritans, and times are changing. We don’t know whether it is for good or bad,” he says.
Other Tollywood stars who rocked in dark roles include Jr NTR (Temper), Allu Arjun (Pushpa), Siddarth (Mahasamudram), Varun Tej (Gadalakonda Ganesh), and Rana Daggubati in ‘Nene Raju Nene Mantri.’ “New generation heroes are fascinated with grey roles since they want to surprise their fans with their unruly acts rather than being predictable. Apart from breaking the monotony of Telugu heroes, new shades are added to the hero’s character to make it a bit unpredictable and fascinating,” says director Teja.
