Sudheer Babu is a Tollywood actor who didn’t have his sights set on Bollywood. He said yes to playing Raghav in Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi and today Sudheer is on cloud nine. He has earned accolades from the audience as well as the Telugu film industry for playing this powerful negative role. Not many may know that he is the brother-in-law of Mahesh Babu.

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In an exclusive chat with dna, the former Karnataka state number one badminton player talks about Baaghi and more.

How did you bag the role in Baaghi?

I am a huge fan of Jackie Chan. There was a theatre near my house and I used to watch all his films. If you see his films, the end credits always show how he performs his stunts. So I had uploaded similar videos from my film on YouTube. The filmmakers saw these videos and called me to Mumbai to discuss the script. I liked the role and I said yes!

You play a negative role in Baaghi. Have you played a villain's role before?

In my first film, the role I did had negative shades but not on this scale with such a scope for performance. That was my home production.

Tell us about playing Raghav.

Playing Raghav was quite amazing. Because of the budget, the planning was precise and organisation as good. Having said that, though it’s a different industry, the rules that apply are the same. There’s not much difference from an actor’s point of view because you approach the character in a similar way and you prepare in a similar fashion.

So Baaghi is a break for you in Bollywood. 

Frankly speaking, I’ve never tried to get into Hindi films. It’s just that an offer came my way and the experience was really good. A lot of people here felt proud because a big production from Mumbai came down to the South searching for a good actor to play the role. 

Tiger Shroff excels in martial arts. What is it like to work with him?

Initially, I was kind of scared to face him on the sets. Tiger is very good and to match up to him, I had to really pull up my socks. I have some training in martial arts but not to the extent he has. Tiger started gymnastics and martial arts from the age of five or six. I started doing this when I came into films. But we trained rigorously together for three to four months before we went to shoot. In the film, Tiger gets inspired by seeing me excel in different sports. I’m supposed to look really talented and skilled so that he gets inspired by me. A lot of hard work has gone into the film and I’m very happy its come out well. 

Did you get calls from colleagues in the Telugu film industry?

Yes, almost everyone who saw it appreciated the role. Even though I have played a lot of lead hero roles in Telugu films, I have never got such a powerful role with so much scope for performance. Initially, when I signed the film in Bollywood, there was a slight negativity and I could sense that around me. A lot of people from the south have gone to Bollywood and none of them were successful. But once the trailer launched, I could see the attitude changing and once the film released everything vanished. I’m really happy. My role in Baaghi was powerful and it’s not a role one gets to do often. 

Would you now look at doing more Hindi films?

Yes, in fact, I want to do more films in Bollywood. There are some discussions going on. One film I am doing is a biopic on badminton player Pullela Gopichand and it will be in Telugu and Hindi. I was a professional badminton player before I got into films. I was Karnataka state number one and number two in India and we were trained by Prakash Padukone. I’ve watched Gopichand from close quarters, so I thought it would be good to do a biopic on his journey which will inspire a lot of people. Going forward, whatever films I make I’ll try and make them in Telugu and Hindi in case there are no cultural differences.

The sensibilities vary between the Hindi and Telugu audience. 

There is that. For instance, when you compare Hollywood and Bollywood, Hollywood is ten years ahead and if you take Bollywood and Tollywood, then Bollywood is ahead ten years. In Bollywood, there is a market for action films, films that are concept-based, films from newcomers, etc. In the south, the top actors can’t experiment. But this is slowly changing after Baahubali, Srimanthudu and even my film Bhale Manchi Roju. I think Tollywood will catch up with Bollywood soon.

What’s next for you now?

I have another Telugu film which I’ll start in May. It’s the remake of the Tamil film Mundasupatti. I usually take about three months to shoot a film so I should be able to finish this and the Gopichand biopic in 2016.

Watch Baaghi trailer here: