Nagarjuna Is Timeless: Wild Dog Actor Mayank Parakh

Sarah Justin

Actor Mayank Parakh will be a new introduction to the Telugu audience. The actor will be seen essaying a key role in Akkineni Nagarjuna’s upcoming film ‘Wild Dog’. This is Mayank's second film in Telugu. Are you wondering, what was his first film?  The actor appeared in Goodchari along with Adivi Sesh in which he had limited time. Mayank is a lucky actor as he got a chance to work with senior Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna. It’s a dream for many stars to work with Nagarjuna. Why, even Bollywood starlet Dia Mirza admitted as much. Mayank fulfilled his dream of working with Nagarjuna in Wild Dog. Ahead of the film's release, Mayank is giving back-to-back interviews to various news portals. In a one on one exclusive interview with Sakshi Post, Mayank shared a few interesting facts about the film.

This is your first film of 2021, Are you excited?

I’m pretty excited about the film. I can’t wait to watch the audience response .

How was it working with Nagarjuna?

It’s everyone's dream to meet Nagarjuna. Sometimes, we feel, it would be enough to see him.Now, I'm playing a part, I can't translate it into words. (Sharing an incident, he says), We had martial training for the film as I was supposed to shed 13 kgs and I was 90 kgs. One fine day, there was a shoot between us and Nagarjuna sir. I was so shocked to see him. One of the co-star asked me “Why are you holding the gun like an amateur security personnel who doesn’t know how to hold it? I was fully trained but lost the grip after seeing Nagarjuna. I was completely clueless about what’s happening around me. Later, Nagarjuna noticed my nervousness and he came to ease me out. It was really an amazing work experience.

Did you want to play any other character in wild dog?

If I ever got the chance to play someone else's character in Wild Dog, I would like to play Nagarjuna’s character in the film. He is the perfect cast for the film. Nagarjuna's character is a very powerful role in the film. Only Nagarjuna sir can do justice to Vijay Varma's role in the film. Apart from Nagarjuna, I would like to play Prakash, especially Ali Reza’s role as the latter's character will be interesting in the film. I want to play all the different characters in the film.

How is stand-up different from a movie

I’m really nervous about the film because whenever I see myself on the screen I feel intimidated I mean in good way. I feel happy to see my screen presence. Whenever I’m on stage there will be a live audience. When it comes to cinema it's a big screen and a huge number of people will watch you. When you are part of such a huge project, I can’t express it. I did a film gooadchari but I couldn’t see energy as I got limited space. 


Who’s your inspiration?

I really don’t know how I cultivated the habit of watching movies. I’m from NIIT, Raipur where students come from different parts of the country. My Telugu friends used to ask me to watch some Telugu movies. I watched most of the Bollywood movies and regional films. Bollywood actor Balaraj Shahani is my biggest inspiration. I watched the movie ‘Garam Hawa’ and it’s really a beautiful film. I was in awe of the actor's performance. When it comes to contemporary movies, I really like late Irrfan Khan, I was just amazed to see his acting skills. Sometimes, I just wonder by watching his talent. When it comes to South India, I like Chiranjeevi sir a lot, he can give competiton to a star-like Hrithik Roshan. He is a complete package who can pull off any role easily. I’m a big fan of Rajamouli, I watched some of his movies-magadheera and Eega.

What made you say ‘Yes’ to the movie?

I heard the real incident of Gokul Chat terror attack. When the blast happened, my relative used to stay backyard. They were saying now we know the intensity of an explosion. It can happen anywhere at anytime. When the director narrated the story to me, I recalled those moments of my relatives. I went for an audition. As soon as I was finalised, I heard the story narration. One of the reasons to say ‘Yes’ to the story was that this is a real story. The other major reason was Nagarjuna. When I got to know Nagarjuna is a part of the movie. I was like, when Nagarjuna sir is doing, why shouldn’t I do it. I’m very fortunate to be part of this project. Nagarjuna has a lover boy image, he always does out and out commercial films.