Not Just Bollywood|Naga Chaitanya on Laal Singh Chaddha: ‘I was very nervous of sharing screen space with Aamir Khan’

South Indian actor Naga Chaitanya is going to make his Bollywood debut with Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha. The actor will be seen in the role of Balaraju, an army officer in the film. In an EXCLUSIVE interview with Firstpost, Naga Chaitanya talks about his experience of working with Amir Khan, preparation for the role, working on his diction and how director Advait Chandan hand held him through the process.

Excerpts from the interview:

What was the preparation for your role in Laal Singh Chaddha?

Honestly, the journey has been magical. It happened organically. I never really planned to do a Hindi film and never even dreamt of working with Aamir Khan. I got a call one day from his office and he was offering a role of Bubba in Forrest Gump. I met him and had a few readings and it just happened.

More than anything I have come out learning so much as an actor. Just spending the five six months with Aamir made me grow tremendously. Not just now, but for years to come whatever I have learnt from this film is going to help me in my future projects.

On doing a Bollywood debut, did you have to work on the diction?

Yes, I had to work hard on the diction. There was no dubbing. The fortunate part was I got the script seven months in advance and also the makers wanted me to keep the South Indian texture in the language. They wanted a few Telugu words here and there in my dialogues. They wanted the Hindi to sound slightly South Indian. It slipped into that zone. All these things were very comforting. It was a great transition for me. I was always insecure about my pronunciations and being brought up in Chittanad one can easily make out that I am a South Indian. This was a perfect launch transition film for me to explore my journey in Bollywood.

As a child you have grown up watching Aamir Khan’s films, but how did your experience change working with him?

He has inspired me as an actor. As a youngster when I started my career in acting, you always dream of being next to these stars and observing their process and method of acting. That’s what anyone would want to do, someone whom you look up to and spend time with them and understand their craft.

His attention to details and the craft of acting was what I was amazed at. As an actor we tend to focus on the acting, but here Aamir Khan was taking care of the content, from the art to the camera to the VFX to the sound. It was inspiring to see this process and also the kind of preparation he gives to preproduction and screening. He loves experimenting with his craft and this was what I wanted to apply in my craft as well.

How was your experience of working with director Advait Chandan?

The only reason I made a Bollywood debut was because of Advait Chandan. He calmed me and sort of hand held me through the process from working on my diction to prepping me for the shoot. Initially, I was very nervous because I was sharing screen space with Aamir Khan, Advait sort of gave me the confidence. He bridged up the gap between us. We were like a team because of Advait.  He truly was the balancing factor for me.

Tell us about your role in Laal Singh Chaddha …

I play Balraju. He is a Telugu boy who comes from a village called Burripalem from Guntur district. I play a South Indian in the film. Balraju meets Laal in the Kargil war and their journey sort of starts from there. Balraju ’s reason in life is not to fight the war, but to start business that is very rooted to the South Indian culture. In fact, a purpose that most Indians will relate to.  Balraju does not know why he is fighting the war. Both Laal and Balraju are from very different worlds, but have a very innocent approach about life and they are excited about the smallest things in life. We both don’t know what we are doing in the war. The best thing about Laal Singh Chaddha is that it is going to put a smile on your face and at the same time make you cry. I don’t want to spill the entire story now, but I am sure the audiences are going to enjoy it.

Is Bollywood losing its swag to South Indian films?

In the south we always made films like RRR, Pushpa and Baahubali. It’s just that with the technology we are now getting that exposure to showcase it to the rest of India and to the world. Now because of the exposure our work is getting identified. I would like to conclude by saying that emotion and content is king. Language is not a barrier whether it is a north Indian film or a south Indian film and boundaries are definitely blurring. And that I believe is a good move in Indian cinema.

What’s your favourite scene from the film?

I found the army training bit the most interesting part. There was extensive physical preparation for the role. We had an army consultant on board and we spent some time in Kargil and Srinagar where the army camp was set up. Shooting in Kargil was strenuous because of the high altitude. We used to be up at 3.30 am because we had to wrap up shoot by noon because the wind was so strong after 12 pm that it was difficult to shoot. So, every day we were shooting from early morning to noon. There was no road to the location and we had to trek for 45 minutes to the location. It was blissful in a way that I was cut off from the world. There was no cell phone network and I got to forget the rest of the world. I was just living my character of Laal Singh Chadha.

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