Interview : ‘I am not an introvert and take time to open up . But now I talk a lot’, says ‘Radhe Shyam’ actor Prabhas!

Pan-India star #Prabhas created euphoria across country after the release of ‘#Bahubali’. It’s next part was a prequel ‘Bahubali : The Conclusion’ which too was super duper hit. These two outing made Prabhas a Pan India star. He has predominantly been doing #Telugufilms and later he forayed into #Hindifilmindustry with a big budget film #Saaho. Though the film did very good business Prabhas’ Hindi diction was criticised. When asked about the same, while interacting with Mr #KeertiKadam, Prabhas said, “I know Hindi but I talk in a Hyderabadi twang. I can read and write Hindi and I prefer having my dialogues written in Hindi, unlike many others who use English script. I have been working on my Hindi diction and dub my dialogues myself. I try to perfect the pronunciation. In fact by the time my next film ‘#Adipurush’ comes I’ll be dubbing fluently in Hindi. I don’t mind dubbing my lines even 10 times because I don’t want any complaints about my Hindi now.”

Prabhas’ new film ‘Radhe Shyam’ is readying for release and he seems a little tense about it. “Opening of theatres to it’s full capacity is a welcome move but I am anxious about Radhe Shyam doing well at the box office. There’s definitely an excitement as the movie is finally releasing but I am a bit stressed too. Due to pandemic the film’s budget went for a toss and it almost doubled. It took 4 years for the movie to complete and release.” Talking about long gaps between his Hindi movies, Prabhas categorically promised saying, “Now there won’t be a reason to complain. I intend to do 3 films in a year so that the gap fans feel won’t exist.”

In Radhe Shyam Prabhas is playing an astrologer. Talking about astrology Prabhas said, “Personally I don’t believe in astrology. In fact I have not even ‘shown my hand’ to any astrologer. When this film was offered to me I did think of not doing it as I don’t believe in astrology. But the character is so beautifully written which foresees future. He has problems with love but the movie is full of love. If I meet any astrologer now I’ll only ask him about the fate of Radhe Shyam (laughs). I believe in hard work. But when Bahubali was released and became a massive hit countrywide which was never witnessed in the 100 years of Indian cinema, I started believing in fate and destiny. Actually Bahubali is still haunting me and my fans expect similar outcome each time around which stresses me.”

Prabhas is romantically paired with Pooja Hegde. Talking about her, he said, “We had seen her earlier work and were confident that she suited the role very well. But Pooja has surprised us. She has surpassed our expectations and she’ll be huge after this movie.” Other than Hindi language films are termed ‘regional’ but Prabhas has no qualms about it. He said, “Cinema has it’s own language. We should try to compete with Hollywood/Chinese/foreign films than fight amongst ourselves about Indian languages. We should not be a slave to regionalism. I think the boundaries are thinning and now hopefully films will be called Indian films.” “My prime aim is to entertain and once I am accepted in Bollywood movies, I’ll show my acting range. Also I do not want producers to spend huge amounts on my movies. I really want to do a small budget family film. Though my fans will get angry but I’ll convince them saying, ‘I am listening to you 90% of times, now please let me do this’ and surely they’ll understand. I am doing a comedy film shoot of which will commence soon”, said Prabhas.

There was a complaint that Prabhas is a shy person and a man of few words. On this he replied, “I am not an introvert and take time to open up. I admit I used to avoid interactions with strangers. In fact I had requested SS Rajamouli not to take me along for the Bahubali promotions (Laughs heartily). While shooting for Adipurush, Saif Ali Khan and I exchanged only a ‘Hi’ on first day. Day 2 we exchanged pleasantries, 3rd day we spoke a bit more but 4th day onwards we were like a house on fire. He’s a fantastic person and has beautifully played Ravan in the film. But now I talk a lot. Isn’t it?”