Y.Sunita Chowdhary
Dinesh Tej will be looking to stabilise his position soon with his movie Merise Merise. He had delivered a hit ‘Husharu’ and is obviously looking for a repeat. The actor from Dharmavaram in Anantapur district moved to Hyderabad for academics and after bagging an engineering degree, worked for an MNC. He is also a dancer and has been participating in college festivals. He picked up the craft only through observing programmes on television. He was dissatisfied with his software job and was constantly mulling over a career shift. “I have been dancing ever since I was small and was not very happy with those little performances I did here and there. Also there was none in the family who were in art or to back me to take another subject. Once while I was working, I had an opportunity to move to London. I then thought that if I go there, I would be stuck in a mechanical life and decided to stay back. I took time to decide and once I did, there was no looking back,” he tells Klapboardpost.com.
Dinesh would give auditions but never took it seriously. He was in a constant dilemma, was conscious that he belonged to a middle class family and weighed the pros and cons but the best part about him was his clarity. He says, “I never thought I was starting late, I knew that if I give up now I’d never get a chance to try again. If you want to try something, you should give up everything and work towards the goal seriously. I told my parents that I was transferred to Hyderabad. I concealed it from them. After three months they got to know that I resigned my job. My dad is strict and I was scared of him back then. I somehow mustered courage and told him that I was interested in acting. He gave me two years to pursue my goal and said if I didn’t click I should get back to my original 9 to 5 job. I was okay with it.” The first six months was very hard, he didn’t know anything about the industry and had absolutely no contacts. All he did was give auditions in Hyderabad and Chennai and nothing happened for six months. He began learning Malayalam, picked up Tamil from his friends and also by watching a lot of Tamil cinema. Still, there wasn’t anything right happening.
He further says, “I was at the dead end, no opportunity was coming my way all these months. People were asking me for money to invest in the film because they were roping me in it. They would say that I would do well, perform superbly if I invest because that would give me a sense of ownership. I found that a bit strange. I always believe that if you are talented and hardworking, really sincere, you will get work. Also it isn’t fair enough to look out for funding the film I would act in. I belong to a middle class family and it is impossible. If you are talented, something waits for you. You just have to be at the right place and at the right time. I did Youtube videos and was spotted, got selected for Husharu. It took a couple of years for the film to come out. The direction took his time as he wanted a perfect film. It did become a hit.”
Dinesh strongly believes that it is not enough if you deliver one hit film. There is enough competition out there and many big players. There should be effort to choose the right script and not pick up anything that comes your way in a hurry. Sustaining a career is important and so is creating a mark of your own. So post Husharu’s release, he waited for six months listening to stories. He came across a ‘brilliant’ script from the director of Darsakudu, Jakka Hari Prasad titled Playback and very soon director Pavan, got in touch with him for Merise Merise. Both the films are done and waiting for a release.
About Hari Prasad, he tells us that he was the writer of 1 Nenokkadine and Darsukudu is his second film. Playback will have Dinesh playing a guy from 2019 and the girl from 1993. They connect on a mobile. Aren’t they from different timelines? “There is a theory about time relativity. The director is a physics lecturer and he knows what he is doing. Ananya from Mallesam is the heroine.” Dinesh quips, “I go by instinct and believe that we should work in one hit film instead of doing a handful of mediocre subjects. We should aim for acceptance from the people as an actor and only then attempt something unique.”
About Merise Merise, he says it is a rom com and it is a feel good movie and it is about a ‘start up failure guy’. He has enough money but fails, decides to just chill for a while. Alongside there is a girl who is already engaged, has her own dreams to achieve something but she is short of time. She is about to wed in a month or two. She is actually a small town girl, who has no clarity how life will be and is in Hyderabad for her Visa process. The duo connect and the rest is something that he doesn’t wish to reveal. He however says, “Apart from my character, I liked the fact and the way the small town girl succeeds in the city. The title too is good, is apt and alludes to the stars which are shadowed by the clouds but grab those few moments to shine. The lead pair are like the stars, they have their bad days but they come out of it.”
Dinesh comes across as a person who is conscious of the fact that he has none to fall back on if he takes a wrong step. He wants to be careful and be in something good. It has been a four year journey so far and his family is happy. He is 28 years old and has a long way to go and says he is more concerned about the quality of the film, not the quantum. The topic veers towards the number of remakes being directed in the Telugu industry and he finds no problem with it. He claims the Telugu industry is the best and so is the audience. He gives an example of how welcoming and accepting our Telugu people are, “I am from a small town and grew up watching movies. I remember Badra was first made in Telugu and then remade by Simbhu in Tamil and after that they dubbed it in Telugu as Yamakedi and released it. It worked very well and I was astonished at the passion and craving of Telugu audiences for cinema. Movies are major entertainment for the South. The North guys have many options, they go trekking etc but for us Friday is a big day. Remake films work in small towns, not all get to see it on streaming platforms. Look at Uma Maheshwara Ugra Rupasya. People from all segments loved it. Some are meant for multiplex, I agree.
