When Naga Chaitanya told dad Nagarjuna about his acting ambition, was sent to Mumbai: ‘Saw the confusion on my face’

Recalling the time he spoke to his parents, Chaitanya told Film Companion South, “I broke it to dad first and then I told my mom. I didn’t know what way to do it honestly. I was clueless because I used to go to their shoots, I liked their world, and I wanted to do something with that world, be a part of that world in some way or the other.”

He added, “I went to them and I said that I want to give acting a shot. They saw the confusion on my face as well. So what they did is that they sent me to acting school, they sent me for a four-month workshop in Mumbai and they said if you feel the same way when you come back, then we will talk about it. I did that workshop, I felt that and I came back and said ‘I want to do it’ and after that mom and dad sent me to LA and all, it was a year and a half or two of training.”

 

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Chaitanya, who made his acting debut with 2009 film Josh, followed by Ye Maaya Chesave, 100 % Love and others. However, the actor shared that it was 2014 movie Manam where something changed in him as actor.

Nagarjuna is a seasoned actor himself and has given several blockbuster Telugu and Hindi films. He took the same approach with Chaitanya that his father Akkineni Nageswara Rao took with his son.

The actor, who will soon make his OTT debut with Dhootha, said that his father stopped reading the Majili actor’s scripts after a point in time.

“Took me 2-3 films to get on my track. Till then I used to take dad’s advice but then dad only slowly started pushing and saying ‘no, you do it. You make mistakes’ because that is what granddad always taught him, saying ‘I am not going to listen to your scripts, if you want some advice then come, I will give you advice and opinion but I want you to take a call on your own. The only way you are going to learn is by falling’. So that was something that I was taught at an early age,” shared the actor.

Chaitanya’s next big screen offering is going to be director Chandoo Mondeti’s Thandel. The third film of the director-actor duo after Premam and Savyasachi will showcase Chaitanya as a fisherman and is said to inspired from real life stories.