I Am A Huge Fan Of Ajith: Naga Chaitanya

Naga Chaitanya is awaiting the release of Thank You, which hits the theatres this Friday. The coming-of-age film explores his character's school, college, and business days. In an interview with Ramya Subramanian, the actor shares why he is a huge fan of Ajith and how they share similar interests. 

"I am a huge fan of Ajith sir, and I love him as a person, both on-screen and off-screen. I know he loves racing, and Venkat Prabhu has told me how well Ajith cooks. He loves food and he is such a kind-hearted person. I completely adore all this about Ajith. I am a foodie as well, and I have always been passionate about racing, biking, and cars. It is just a crazy similarity we both share," he says. 

While he is working with Venkat Prabhu for a bilingual, his film Thank You will be released only in Telugu. He feels that the sensibilities of the Tamil and Telugu markets are very different and the approach for a bilingual should start at the conception stage itself. The actor notes, "A very simple example for me is Ye Maaya Chesave and Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya. We had different endings purely because the sensibilities were different. So, I need to find that neutral script to actually drive me to dub it into both languages or shoot it in both languages." He further adds that the Telugu audience will relate to Thank You immediately, and because the script was written with them in mind, it would not play out organically if dubbed in Tamil. 

Talking about the Venkat Prabhu bilingual, he says, "I know it's coming from a neutral space where we are sort of keeping in mind both the audiences and both their sensibilities." 

When he is not acting, Naga Chaitanya is involved in racing and handling business. He also runs a cloud restaurant named Shoyu. He says that taking such breaks helps him come back refreshed and rejuvenated. "The love for racing, cars, and bikes was way before I started films. I have been going to the tracks since I was 15 years old.  So, that passion has always been there. But the whole thing with food and the business is different. I can't always be in one place. We are acting throughout, but I feel the need to take a break once in a while. I feel I come back fresher, recharged, and with newer ideas. This way, new thoughts come to me and I reflect them in acting, and they strangely complement each other," says Naga Chaitanya.

Having enjoyed one of the best years in his career, the actor has forayed into multiple industries and is thrilled to get new exposure this year. "I was only thinking about Telugu during the pre-pandemic times. But, honestly, a lot of developments happened during the two years at home. I got Aamir Khan's film Laal Singh Chaddha, and Vikram (the director of Thank You) and I had come up with an OTT web series idea. I didn't think I would take a step into OTT, but we are doing it with Amazon, as the script inspired me so much. And now the Venkat Prabhu film is a Tamil and Telugu bilingual. So my wings have sort of spread organically. I didn't plan for it to happen,"  he enthusiastically says, adding, "All these films will come out by the end of this year. I'm hoping for a bigger exposure so that people watch me throughout the country. If that pays off for me, then probably from now on, the content I choose will be with the larger audience in mind."