Interview With Actor Raja Part - 1/2

Raja is the chocolate boy of Telugu cinema today with his cute looks. He made his debut with a hit film ‘O Chinnadana’. His character in the title role of Anand changed it all. Vennela was also another hit. His latest film Mayabazaar is due for the release in 2nd week of November. Here is an exclusive interview with this talented actor

Background:

I was born in Vizag to a Christian mother from London and Brahmin father from Andhra. My grandfather was in the British army during pre-independence days and my mother grew up in India. Many tragic events happened in my family. When I was five, my mother died of uterine cancer. My father worked in the Gulf. He was ostracised from his family because he married a white lady. We had many unpleasant experiences. My father shifted us to Hyderabad and I studied here from 3rd standard to 10th class. In 1988, he had to leave his job and come to India to spend time with us. My father died of a cardiac arrest in December 1989. That was another turning point in our life. We had to go back to Vizag. We (my sister and me) worked at a young age to support our education. Life taught us many things but it also opened us new avenues. It made life less complicated.


During my college days, I worked for Sterling Holiday resorts. After graduation I worked with NEPC airlines for one and half years as public relations officer. Then I joined Lufthansa as a part of their cabin crew and flew with them for two years. Finally I wanted to do something much bigger in life.
My mother was stunningly beautiful and she was like goddess to me. I think some of her charm rubbed on to me. My mother wanted to be an actress. I went to USA and joined an acting school. All my friends thought it was a stupid idea but I believed in myself. As long as you are focused and willing to put your heart and soul into something you will definitely attain your goal but of course you must work hard. I was in Miami for three and half years and that gave me intense theatre experience. I worked with Broadway companies. I have done commercials in USA. One of my plays called Antigone by Sophocles won the Carbonnel award (a theatre award). I was the only Indian student from my academy to get nominated for this award. I developed tremendous respect for actors. Initially, cinema for me was only entertainment but after my stint at the academy my perspective changed.
I came to Hyderabad and approached a lot of production houses. Probably I was not so mature then. I had a strong Anglicized accent at that time as I hardly spoke Telugu since most of my friends spoke either English or Hindi. All the Lufthansa crew spoke either German or English. Then I started reading Telugu newspapers, watching old Telugu films and listening to old Telugu songs.
I went to Mumbai, as things didn’t look promising in Hyderabad. I had a cousin called Isaiah (who played the role of Guru in Pokiri) who won the Gladrags Supermodel title. I got my portfolio done in Mumbai and visited lots of production agencies and model coordinators. I have done about eighteen commercials so far. My first commercial was for a perfume and I was paid Rs 23,000 for that commercial. It was my first paycheck in Mumbai.
Then I did a music video for Pankaj Udhas’s album shot by Anubhav Sinha (director of Dus and Tum Bin). I worked with Rakesh Mehra for the ICICI Home Loans ad. I did Prudential, ICICI, Fair & Lovely, Fanta, Coke, egurukool.com, Baazi kiski and a lot of promotional videos of music channels. During this period, a gentleman asked me to play the lead role in a play titled ‘ask what father says’. The first show was at Secunderabad Club. All the local English dailies covered the event and gave good reviews. When they interviewed me, I spoke to them in Telugu. I got my first call from D Rama Naidu and the second call from Chandra Siddardha. I met Naresh and Rajesh in Bombay. I also met EVV Satyanarayana who came to Mumbai for selecting actors. He took an instant liking in me. Later on Rajesh called me and said that his cousin (E Sathibabu) was making a film and he was looking for a second male lead. I was selected for O Chinnadana film. After O Chinnadana, I never had to look back.
I did my second film Vijayam with D Rama Naidu. My third film Appudappudu with Chandra Siddardha gave me a lot of recognition in terms of wider reach. Kala was a disaster. Then the magic called Anand happened which changed my life for good. All the credit goes to Sekhar Kammula. My life is very happy now. I could not have asked for anything better.
Maya Bazaar will be my 14th film.