Akkineni Fans Will Love My Character in Wild Dog: King Nagarjuna

Sarah Justin

There's no need to introduce Tollywood King Akkineni Nagarjuna. The senior actor has been ruling the film industry for more than two decades now. He has a few films lined up in in his kitty. One among them is 'Wild Dog' which will released on April 2 in theatres. In a recent interaction, Nagarjuna shared a few instances from the film sets.

How do you feel about response to the trailer of Wild Dog?

I'm really happy with the repsonse to the trailer from the audience and fans. The trailer helped our film get popular among the audience. We had to edit six to seven trailers before releasing this one as we wanted to attract the audience.

You are promoting the film extensively...
I'm the only known person in the film to the audience. The rest of the cast and crew are new to the audience. It's a new age commercial film that's why I decided to promote the film. I'm taking extra care for this project as it is my responsibility to promote the film. Actually, I'm supposed to shoot Praveen Sattaru's film but we have kept it on hold for a while until 'Wild Dog' opens in theatres.

What makes you comfortable about new directors?

Sometimes, I'll be anxious to be working with a new director but it will give a new experience as they come up with fresh ideas and characters. I get bored playing the same roles and the same characterisation. I want to give something new to the audience and my fans. New directors are one of the reasons for me to become a great star in Tollywood.

Your comments on the movie script

I heard the story in 2019 between July and August. The director approached me with the script, I asked why it took him so long to come up with this good script. He said I did a lot of research for the movie. Before Wild Dog, I was ready with Bangarraju. Both the scripts were in hand and I was confused about which film to do first. Wild Dog is a fast film and a good film. We planned to shoot the film in Thailand and Sikkim but all the tourist places were closed due to COVID. As soon as the government granted permission to shoot the film, we completed the shoot in a gap of two months.

Will your role in Wild Dog stand out?

It's a very powerful character in the film. Any actor who listens to the story would know that this is a very very good script. The audience will surely remember Ajay Varma's role for a long time.

What's your character in the film

My character is ACP Vijay Varma, he is a team leader, a very good father, husband and an efficient officer. He loves his country. The reason he has chosen the profession is his love for the country. NIA organisation was formed in 2008 only to arrest terrorists. Vijay Varma's only duty is to catch the terrorist. In this film, he doesn't arrest anyone, he believes they have to put a full stop to such terror activities. One day,  Ajay Varma has to travel to a different place as a part of the job. There's no guarantee whether he will come back or not. He asks his wife if he has to go or not. I'm not an NIA in real life but I want to be like this. The investigation of the case in the film will interest the audience. We even did a research about a terrorist leader who has five to six passports. By the time the team realises he is the terrorist and the reason behind the serial blasts and want to catch him, he scoots to Nepal.

Can we expect a combo of you with your son Akhil?

Actually, we are planning to work together. But we are waiting for a nice action film. Let's see when it happen as we both are occupied with few projects at the moment.

Are you producing any films?

Currently, I'm producing one film of a new director. I'm also doing a film with Vaishnav Tej as he liked the script very much. It's Vaishnav Tej's second film after 'Uppena'. And it will be a  Annapurna Production so you can imagine how good it will be.

What do you want to say to your fans about Wild Dog
Fans have been waiting for a commercial film. Wild Dog will be a new commercial film to my fans. You guys will definitely love my character and you will all be proud of my character.