Rakesh Varre, the lead in the upcoming political action-thriller Jithender Reddy spoke to CE in an exclusive conversation joined by the director of the film Virinchi Varma. Rakesh made his debut in Telugu cinema as a lead in Evarikee Cheppoddu (2019) which is an acclaimed slice-of-life comedy drama. He has been a recurring face in noted Telugu films like Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), Goodachari (2018), Badrinath (2011) among others. The director Virinchi Varma's previous works include the rom-com Uyyala Jampala (2013) and Nani starrer Majnu (2016). Both of the talents are venturing into a fresh space with this high-stakes action thriller biopic on a famous Telangana political figure - Jithender Reddy based in Jagityal.
Talking about veering into this new space, Rakesh said, “As an actor, I always wanted to do an action drama. I worked in Baahubali, Mirchi in smaller roles and I found the larger-than-life space of those films exciting. Action dramas if not written well fail to pay off but here, this story is dramatic and epic. There is a lot of scope in performance. At this point, I want to showcase my performative ability. And this is a dream role for any actor. Jithender Reddy gaaru’s life story is cinematic and needs to be told.”
Since Virinchi Varma stepped into an unexplored territory with this film, he explained how he found this project, “I was never interested in biopics or politically heated subjects. I had other scripts which were going on and off for many reasons. Ravinder Reddy gaaru approached me and asked to casually listen to the story. I got attracted to the action-thriller beats of his story. His life has a lot of cinematic moments which writers cannot even imagine. It has extreme emotions and large moments. When I started this film, there were two things to keep in mind: the producers can’t make the story of Jithender Reddy gaaru again given his legendary status and at the same time, I needed to prove myself with this film. Since, people know my previous works are subtle and soft. Not making this film pay off would be a waste of all our time and effort. ”
Further talking about the political undertones of the film, Varma elaborated, “The film wears its politics on its sleeve but it’s all in the emotion. Lot of people are asking about the political ideology or whether we are supporting a particular party, I am only saying that this is an action-thriller. And this film doesn’t talk about any ulterior political ideology, it’s just nationalism. And there’s nothing wrong in celebrating nationalism on screen.”
Since his mother-tongue is not the Telangana dialect, getting the language right was a challenge. Reflecting on that, Rakesh said, “Getting Telangana dialect that too the Jagityal accent is very difficult. And we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare as well. They gave me only two days before shooting. So the whole shoot process included every day learning. I used to have someone beside me to rehearse the language and talk about what to use and what not to. I think the output came out well given the challenge.”
“This film has heavy emotions and you will be hooked throughout. End of the day, cinema is just about emotions. Audiences will have a great cinematic experience and this is a pakka theatrical watch.” Rakesh concluded.
Jithender Reddy, billed as an intense action-thriller, is hitting the screens on November 8.