Deewana is hitting the screens on June 19, and Harshith Reddy is stepping into the lead role for the first time with this film. Earlier, he appeared in supporting roles in projects like Mail, Kalki 2898 AD, and Subham. Sreekanth Sangishetty is making his directorial debut with this film, while Smeha Manimegalai is playing the female lead. Vasudev Koppineni and Sridevi Karyampudi are jointly producing the film under the Arha Media banner. Harshith began speaking about where he started, before delving deep into his upcoming film. “I was born and brought up in Hyderabad. During my BTech days, I used to create videos for YouTube and Instagram. Swapna garu from Vyjayanthi Movies watched one of my videos and selected me for their web film Mail, which was streamed on Aha OTT,” says Harshith.
That opportunity came during the COVID period, and Harshith received appreciation for his role in Mail. Later, he became part of Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD, produced by Vyjayanthi Movies and Swapna Cinema.
“I was fortunate enough to jump the audition process to get cast in Kalki 2898 AD. The film’s team directly selected me after watching my performance in Mail,” he says.
Clarifying the parallels between Arjun Reddy and Deewana, as the upcoming film’s promotional materials suggest, Harshith says the two films are completely different. “The protagonist’s behaviour might make you feel that way. But Deewana has no connection with Arjun Reddy, and it is a completely different film,” he adds, saying that his friendship with producer Vasudev Koppineni is also one of the reasons why Deewana happened. “I worked in a few web series for Aha, and I have known Vasudev garu since then. When director Sreekanth narrated this story, I took him to Vasudev garu. That is how this project happened.”
Calling top producer Allu Aravind’s compliment, who is also backing the film, his biggest gift and motivation, Harshith describes the heart-touching incident in the trailer launch as a memorable experience. “After watching the film, he called me and asked how I performed certain scenes, especially the climax and a few other important portions. It was a very nice conversation with Aravind sir about the film,” he says, extending his point about the performances and how pivotal the workshops were in attaining perfection. “We did a lot of workshops and got intense training from the director. If we shoot for three days, we do around ten days of workshops. It was a very intense process for all of us.”
Talking about his inspirations, Harshith said he watches films of many stars but follows his director’s vision while performing. “Vijay anna, Nani anna, Chiranjeevi sir, and Allu Arjun sir inspire me. I watch all their films. But whenever I read a scene, I perform it in my own way. But when it comes to a particular scene, I prefer originality. More than anything, my director gave several inputs to make my character lively, so I followed his vision more,” he remarks.
Harshith was also part of Subham, produced by Samantha, and now his film Deewana is releasing at the same time as Samantha’s Maa Inti Bangaram. He is excited about both the releases and does not view this as a competition. “Maa Inti Bangaram and Deewana are not competing against each other. There is no competition. I am confident that both films will do well,” he shares.
He also reveals that his being part of Subham was a chance happening. “Subham producers Raj Nidimoru and Samantha garu watched my performance in Mail and wanted to cast me in the film. The very next day, I accidentally met Raj Nidimoru garu at the airport. He called me ‘Mail boy’ and told me that he had discussed my name with his team for the film the previous day. Meeting me the next day itself felt like destiny to him, and he said, ‘We will work together.’ That is how I got Subham,” he reveals.
Harshith is also part of the upcoming Kalki 2898 AD sequel and has signed another film titled Romeo Juliet. “I will announce the details of my upcoming films in a few days,” says Harshith, signing off.