After delivering back-to-back pan-India blockbusters, Adivi Sesh is all set to return to the big screen with the action-romantic thriller Dacoit. Directed by debutant Shaneil Deo, the film stars Mrunal Thakur as the female lead opposite Sesh. Though Dacoit has action and intense drama, Sesh says the soul of the film is its love story. "In my previous films, the love story usually existed to support the main plot. But in Dacoit, the love story is the main plot and the entire film is driven by it,” says the actor-filmmaker, who is confident that the film will surprise audiences because it blends two contrasting genres.

The recently released trailer for Dacoit, in both Telugu and Hindi, received an excellent response. Sesh says he was pleasantly surprised by the film's reach in the Hindi belt. “The response in Hindi has also been excellent. For the first time, people even asked whether the film would be premiered in Bhojpuri. Hearing that made me very happy,” says Sesh, crediting actor-singer Pawan Singh's presence for generating curiosity among the Bhojpuri audience.

Apart from acting in Dacoit, Sesh is also one of the film's writers. Known for writing emotionally layered thrillers, Sesh reveals that the idea for Dacoit began with a simple visual.  “One day, a visual metaphor came into my mind. Imagine a small flower emerging through a crack in a concrete pavement on a busy road. That image eventually transformed into a story of two emotionally wounded people caught between anger, pain, and love," says Sesh.

From Karma to Major and the Goodachari franchise, Sesh has done several intense roles. However, one thing audiences never saw him do was dance, and Dacoit is set to change that. “For years, I had a mental block about dancing. When I was a child, someone once told me, while I was dancing at a function, ‘You are too tall, don’t dance.’ That feeling stayed with me. I put that limitation on myself,” reveals Sesh, adding that his character in Dacoit helped him break out of it. "My character Hari is a very open person who speaks directly and lives in the moment, and I moved past this limitation." Another aspect of Hari that posed a challenge for Sesh was the character's dialect. “For this role, I practiced the Madanapalle accent so much that I started speaking that way at home too. My mother actually asked why I was talking like this,” says Sesh with a laugh.

Dacoit marks Sesh's return to the big screen after HIT: The Second Case (2022). However, he asserts that the gap doesn't mean he wasn't busy working. “I have been working non-stop for the past two years, and that's my filmmaking process," says Sesh, who candidly admits that his involvement in writing often slows down the number of films he is part of. “Writing takes time, and I like to be fully involved. However, after G2, I want to recharge myself emotionally. I want to work with someone else’s vision for a while."

Sesh has only praise for producer Supriya Yarlagadda, whom he calls 'a gem of a producer.' “Supriya garu has been everything for this film. Managing a 100-day shoot is like conducting 100 weddings. There are complaints, egos, and endless issues. A producer has to handle all of them with patience,” says Sesh. Another major attraction of Dacoit is Anurag Kashyap, who is making his Telugu acting debut with the film. Sesh recalled the team's interesting way of narrating the story to him. “He came to Hyderabad for Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita’s wedding celebrations. At that time, we sat inside a tent there and narrated it to him," says Sesh.

Sesh also shared that the making of Dacoit was anything but easy, especially the chase sequences and action blocks. “Doing chase sequences and stunts is always difficult. I even suffered a knee injury, because of which the film was delayed by two or three months,” says Sesh, adding that this injury also affected the schedule of his next film, G2.

Considering the reach of Dacoit's Hindi version and his very own Major, it makes one wonder if a Bollywood sojourn might be on the cards for Adivi Sesh. “I received offers for four war films and two biopics after the release of Major. But I made Major as a passion project for Major Sandeep’s parents. If I keep doing war films now, I do not think that would be ethically right,” points out Sesh.

Talking about his co-star, Mrunal Thakur, Sesh says, “She is a wonderful actor. She not only feels the emotions in the scene, but she also carries them outside the set. It gave me a competitive spirit and made me feel that I also had to raise my game."

Getting back to the intense romance at the core of Dacoit, Sesh says he has always been drawn to broken love stories. “That is why we can watch Devdas any number of times. In every film I write, there is always some part of my own life. When I went through my first breakup at 19, I did not understand anything. It took me almost ten years to come out of it. I tried to channel that emotion through Hari’s character in Dacoit,” says Sesh, who signs off by giving us an update about his much-awaited spy thriller sequel, Goodachari 2. “G2 will be released at the end of this year.”