Y. Sunita Chowdhary
Actor Ram Karthik is from Hyderabad. He doesn’t have anyone in the family who are into movies but with sheer passion and perseverance, he managed to get a break. After his entry in films, he didn’t relax and kept himself busy and attended various workshops to hone his skills. He talks of his salad days, “I went to an audition, got the role and one thing led to another and the journey moved on. I so far did seven films and they are Drishya Kavyam, Mama Chandamama, Manchu Kurise Velalo, Mouname Istam, Where Is The Venkatalakshmi and a role in Dhruva, a series in Geeta Subramanyam for aha and now I am the lead in Fcuk.”
Ask him if it is true that Telugu people getting chances in films isn’t bright? He dodges the question and says, “It is tough for people with a non-filmi background to enter. Till he or she gets a break, every actor has to go through struggles. My journey wasn’t smooth. The film school helps in building confidence and teaches minimum basics to face the camera and helps you with surfacing your inner talent. At the end of the day you have to create your destiny. Most auditions are fair and unfair, some are fake. They could do it for publicity and casting might have already been done internally. We attend all of them. I faced such stuff but no regrets. Each of them have been a learning experience.”
He adds, “I have not worked in television but I really don’t know why television actors don’t usually get a break in films. I understand that they become busy, they have a lot of work as all the time they have is spent there. Even if some film people ask them for dates, they might not adjust. They earn well and don’t find it necessary to take a risk. As far as I am concerned, I got the name and fame and appreciation that my choice of subjects was good. Most films I worked in didn’t get the publicity it deserved and most of them were small names. As an actor I kept improving from my first film. It is an ongoing process, we get updated every day.”
In the lockdown, there was no option for entertainment and people got connected to the streaming platforms. It helped the artistes and technicians cover the absence of the theatre but at the end of the day both have its advantages. Ram Karthik states that though he has been to Ramanaidu film school for workshops, he didn’t have the time for the course. For an actor it is all about recognition and he hasn’t seen commercial success as yet. Do you become patient, resilient in the process of finding a film? It is difficult to read the mind of a struggling actor. Every actor dreams of success, it gives him more confidence and patience and the ability to improve himself day by day, and also how he justifies his role is important. Though we think we are not getting our due, we shouldn’t get depressed and give it all our might.”
Ram Karthik shares, “I got a call from the production house, met the director. They had already seen many people and shortlisted me. About the script of FCUK, there is no double entendre, it is a neat story. Fcuk is based on the characters and the story revolves around those important four.” Did they brief him about his role? It is about the father son relationship and suddenly how a baby comes in between them. It is more of a rom com.” Every actor’s dream is to work in big production houses. Does the script have potential to be box office success? What is the effort that he put in? “I told Vidyasagar the director, I would go to the office at 5 am. We would do script reading and dialogue discussion. Was doing Gita and sir was busy with other productions.
The shooting days amounted to two and a half weeks and no, the title wasn’t embarrassing at all. There is nothing to feel embarrassed about a humorous story. The title is nothing but the names of the characters, so where does vulgarity arise? It is an out and out entertainer and there is bonding between father and son. The son has a matured attitude and the father is young at heart. He is a womaniser. I am very positive about the audience receiving it positively, I enjoyed the reading of the script thoroughly, I would laugh and be entertained. The making has come out well. To put it in a nutshell, an unexpected thing happens in the life of a bachelor, a girl arrives. The high point is that a father who promises to bring a mom for his son, brings a baby boy, his son,” he says. Vidyasagar, the director would at times act and show. He is a very patient and energetic director. It was an enriching experience to work with Jagapati Babu and we would share our views freely.”
