"A film like KGF Chapter 2 deserves the space and a film like Laal Singh Chaddha deserves its own space," Naga Chaitanya told DNA.
South superstar Naga Chaitanya will be seen making his Hindi film debut with the highly-anticipated film Laal Singh Chaddha. The Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor starrer film, which is slated for a release on August 11, will mark Naga Chaitanya's entry into Bollywood.
We recently caught up with Naga Chaitanya and spoke to him about the film, his equation with Aamir Khan, his role in the film and also questioned him if he too, like Aamir, feels that Laal Singh Chaddha 'got saved' because of averting a clash with Yash starrer KGF Chapter 2, which turned out to be one of the biggest blockbusters of 2022 so far.
Talking about making his Hindi film debut with Laal Singh Chaddha, Naga Chaitanya told DNA, "It makes me really anxious and excited too because it's a debut all over again. I'm starting fresh, so am excited and nervous. I'm also ready to see how the audience accepts me and own up to the character."
READ: Aamir Khan reacts to Laal Singh Chaddha's box office clash with Akshay Kumar's Raksha Bandhan
Speaking about his character, Naga said, "I play Balaraju, a Telugu boy who travels up North where I meet Laal, Aamir sir's character in Kargil and then train in the Army and then go on to fight in the war. It's so funny because both our characters are very different from the world out there. We are so innocent and are caught up in our own little thing. We don’t want to be there fighting in the war, we don’t know what we are there for. The contrast in that sense has turned out very well. There’s also a lot of humour around my character that has been written around my character. I feel that’s what the audience is going to enjoy the most."
Ask him if he faced any challenges picking up Hindi, Naga replied, "Initially, yes…I'm not too familiar with the language so I had to work on it. Fortunately, I got the script six months in advance and Advait (Chandan) took me through readings and we had a lot of workshops and he got me very comfortable with the lines. By the time we went for the shoot, I didn’t even think about it. It was fluent."
When DNA asked him about his opinion on Aamir Khan's comment that Laal Singh Chaddha, which was delayed multiple times due to the pandemic and VFX work, "got saved" as it averted a clash with Yash starrer KGF Chapter 2, Naga Chaitanya said, "See saved as in… a film like KGF Chapter 2 deserves the space and a film like Laal Singh Chaddha deserves its own space. It definitely didn’t want to see both the films coming together on the same day because both are beautiful films."
"I've watched KGF and I’ve also watched Laal Singh Chaddha… both have a very different texture to it, different emotional connect, both are poles apart and both deserve their space. At the end of the day, both are brilliantly made films, so, am happy that both the films got their solo releases," Naga added.
About his camaraderie with Aamir Khan on and off-screen, Naga told DNA, "We spent so much time off-screen before we actually got onscreen. The time I spent with him, the warmth he shared, I could say he's a really true friend to me because he has taught me so much. Initially, when I got onto the project I was really nervous, how it would be working next to a superstar like Aamir sir, I’ve grown up watching his films and as an actor I’ve learnt so much from him. Finally, when you meet such people in your life, you’re like frozen. You don’t know how to behave and react. But he broke the ice with his warmth and humble nature. He has this knack of behaving like any other person in the room."
Laal Singh Chaddha, directed by Advait Chandan and headlined by Aamir Khan, is slated for a release on August 11. The film also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan and Mona Singh.
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 "Laal Singh Chaddha-Naga Chaitanya-Yash KGF Chapter 2/File photos")
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