Allari Naresh has earned the tag of ‘minimum guarantee hero’ at box-office. However, the actor confides that it’s become a heavy baggage for him and he’s trying his best to live up to the expectations and deliver what’s expected from him – clean entertainment. He shared some feelings about Aha Naa Pellanta

Tell us about Aha Naa Pellanta? What’s your role in the film?

It’s a very simple story where I play a software engineer named Subramanyam. Srihari, Subbaraju and Samrat are three brothers who are into land settlements and making money illegally. Now, they want their sister (Ritu Barmecha) in someone’s safe hands. I lead a very simple life in the film and the three brothers find me interesting and believe that their sister will be happy if I marry her. And they fix the match without me knowing the girl and even the girl doesn’t know me either. All this leads to hilarious situations with me being very afraid of them and them trying to convince me for the marriage.

Any funny incidents on the sets?

There was this scene which is about 9 minutes long (27 pages scene in the script) between me and Brahmanandam. We started at 11 AM and continued shooting this scene till 5:30 PM. It’s all about comedy timing and Brahmanandam gaaru is perfect when it comes to this comic timing. It took me one whole day to dub that reel because I just couldn’t control my laughter. Comedy is one of the toughest emotions to portray. Even a slight error in comic timing can spoil the entire scene especially during such long scenes.

Veerabhadram, who directed this film, was your father’s assistant in the beginning of his career. How was it working with him?

I have known him for a very long time now. And we worked together for the film Danger (Veerabhadram was the co-director). Getting this film started was a very difficult task for him. Convincing one actor itself is tough, but he being a newcomer managed to convince the producer, me, Srihari and Brahmanandam to do the film. Srihari and I wanted to work for quite sometime and I am happy that it’s finally working now. I always used to tell Srihari that our combination should be like Tom and Jerry, more of a Brawn Vs Brain concept. Veerabhadram approached me in 2008 and in 2009 I okayed the subject and we started shooting from July, 2010.

We used to discuss about the project and I really wanted him (Veerabhadram) to put his heart and soul for his first film because it’s going to decide the rest of his career. He worked with a young team including Raghu Kunche (music director) and Sridhar (writer). We made several changes in the script to fine tune it and finally we had worked on almost 8-9 drafts.

I must also mention about Loki, the cinematographer. He made his debut with Allari which was my debut film and later we worked on Thottigang too. I have wanted to work with him for a long time after that and he happened to be Veerabhadram’s friend.

About Ritu?

She’s playing Srihari’s sister and she’s a nice actress. Language was one barrier, but she worked really hard on it. Moreover, she had done quite a few ads, so she was at ease while facing the camera.

Before the film was completed, your dad passed away. That must have devastated you.

Dad has been always been a great pillar of strength and it’s because of him people know me. It was really tough to deal. My brother’s marriage was fixed and his demise was quite unexpected. There have been other co-incidences too. He started working with Jhandhyala for a film called Nalugu Sthambalaata. There’s a song in that film, Chinukula Raali which we remixed for Aha Naa Pellanta. And then, his last film with Jhandhyala was Aha Naa Pellanta and we have the same title as well. He was more of a friend to me and I share everything with him. He used to buy all my clothes and shoes, socks till his death. It’s definitely a big loss to us and all those people who depend on him.

Is your marriage on the cards too? What are your plans for future?

I am not thinking of marriage right now. I have to continue the EVV legacy and take it to the next level. We started EVV cinema banner and I will strive to make it bigger in future.