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Aditya Pancholi makes his Telugu debut with Shadow

Bollywood actor such as Sonu Sood, Pradeep Rawat, Sayaji Shinde, Mukesh Rishi, Murli Sharma, Kelly Dorji, Shawar Ali, and Abhimanyu Singh who have played the villains in Telugu cinema. The latest to join the bandwagon is Aditya Pancholi.

The actor will play a villian in director Mehar Ramesh's Shadow. The film stars Venkatesh, Taapsee Pannu and Srrikanth in the lead.  

The actor shares his notes on Shadow,  doing his first Telugu film and working with Venkatesh.

Why did you decide to act in a Telugu film?

My wife (Zarina Wahab) is from Andhra Pradesh. She loves to watch Telugu movies. Every month she goes to Hyderabad to watch new Telugu releases. That was one of the reasons I accepted Shadow.

The director Mehar Ramesh along with Kona Venkat came to meet me. The producer was Mr Parachuri Prasad.

What appealed to you about Shadow?

When Mehar Ramesh narrated the subject to me and my part, it interested me.

The way he narrated it and the way he was going to present the character and the way he was going to treat the whole film was very international and exciting.

'I have tremendous love and respect for Venkatesh'

Had you heard of Mehar Ramesh before or seen his work?

I had not seen his work or heard of him before. After I met him, I saw his film Billa. It was very good.

The way he picturised the whole film was amazing. He's a chilled out and a very cool guy.

You must be familiar with Venkatesh and his films...

Yes. I have known Venky Sir for a long time. We have known each other for almost 15-20 years though we never worked together.

I have tremendous love and respect for him. He's a super guy, very nice, down to earth.

Have you seen his Telugu films?

I have seen some of his Telugu films and a few Hindi films that he has done.

Were you very happy to be working with him in this film?

I was very happy to work with him. It is like you know somebody and he's the hero of this film, he's nice to you and he helps you with the lines.

I can understand Telugu and can speak a bit but to speak those lines in the film you need the support of your co-actors. Venky Sir was so sweet and nice.

'I did Shadow because of my wife Zarina'

Did your wife Zarina play a role in your signing the film?

No, she didn't. She's the reason I did it. She said if you get a nice Telugu film, please do it. I'm very happy and satisfied with Shadow.

Shadow is supposed to be an action entertainer shot in a stylised manner...

Yes, it is. And the music has also become a hit. I'm looking forward to the release of this movie.

You play the antagonist in this film. What's so different about the character that you play? You must have played the underworld don so many times.

He's very stylised – more stylised than any other role I have done before in my career. That's the way the director has presented me.

I love the way people work Telugu film industry. They are so particular about everything. They are so prompt, precise and punctual. They work all the time.

How did you prepare for the role? Did you do any kind of homework?

It was basically to do with the way the guy looks. He's young and then there's a 25-year age time lapse. So the looks and the get-up are different.

Since it was my first film in Telugu, I wanted to be very sure of what I am doing.

'I reduced almost 10 kgs for the film'

Were you also associated with the styling of your character?

Mehar Ramesh and I sat together and worked out the whole thing.

You had a designer to work on the costumes?

Ropage is a fashion designing house in Mumbai and they styled my look.

How did you surmount the language barrier?

I put in a lot of effort though I was not dubbing for the film. I had to speak the words. The lip sync had to be right. I like everything to be perfect.

Mehar Ramesh helped a lot. There were lots of retakes. There were two-three ways of doing it. He used to write it down on pieces of paper. Prompting was one of the ways. I used to mug the lines well.

How was it working with Venkatesh, Srikkanth and Taapsee?

It was great. There was a lot of fun. They were professional people. It was a very nice team for a newcomer in the Telugu film industry to have. They were very helpful too.

Were you excited doing this film?

Yes, I was very excited. I specially cut down my weight. I did a lot of exercise and cut down almost 10 kgs.

'I would love to do some good Telugu films'

What do you like about the Telugu industry?

I like the way they make movies. I love the Telugu audience who have a lot of love and respect for their stars. Even the quality of films is superb these days – it is international. I love entertaining cinema.

So, are you open to doing more Telugu films now?

Yeah. I would love to do some good Telugu films. I am waiting for this film to release so that I will get more offers.

You haven't got offers yet?

No, I'm waiting for this film to release.

What is Zarina's reaction? Has she seen the film?

She hasn't seen the film. I think we will go to Hyderabad to specially see the film.

How would you sum up the whole experience of doing Shadow?

Fantastic. I'm really glad and fortunate to be working in a Telugu film.