How did you become a part of the KGF: Chapter 2 cast?
In KGF: Chapter 1, there was only one shot of Adheera which they had shot as a silhouette. For the second chapter, they reached out to me through a family friend. The friend contacted my wife. My wife had watched KGF: Chapter 1. She told me that it’s an interesting character and you should do it. Then I watched KGF: Chapter 1 and liked it very much.
They narrated the film and I said yes. Then the director Prashanth and the team worked on my look as Adheera. The journey with Adheera has been a great one for me. Because from where I entered the industry – playing an action hero in larger-than-life films – I got a chance to go back to that zone with Adheera and KGF: Chapter 2.
Do you think the South industry is garnering big box office success because of these big-ticket films full of action and heroism?
I think the Hindi film industry has forgotten the larger-than-life heroism. But the Southern industries didn’t forget heroism. I’m not saying that slice-of-life films or rom-coms are bad. But why have we forgotten our audience from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan who make up a large section of our audience. I hope that trend comes back in the Hindi film industry. Earlier we had individual producers and financiers which the corporatization of film studios has brought to an end. Corporatization is good but that shouldn’t interfere with our taste in movies.
See, for instance, SS Rajamouli has his fixed producers who have complete faith in his vision. We also had producers like that with us back in the day like Gulshan Rai, Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai and Yash Johar. Look at the films that they have made. In the South they look at the script on paper, here, they look at the recovery figures on paper.
Comparisons between Kancha Cheena from Agneepath and Adheera are bound to happen because both characters are larger-than-life. But from your perspective, how different is Adheera from Kancha Cheena?
The motive is the same. Kancha wanted Mandwa. Adheera wants KGF. But the character, look and feel are different. Adheera is a bigger character in his own right, not taking anything away from Kancha.
You seem to have a dedicated fan following in the capital of Kannada cinema, too. A few years ago, on your visit to a gym in Bangalore, things got out of hand. Do you recall that incident?
I was invited to inaugurate a gym. There were a lot of fans present at the event and the doors and shutters were destroyed. All that happened just so that those fans could get a glimpse of me or a chance to meet me.
