Srikanth completes his century in Tollywood

He has been Tollywood’s favourite “family hero” for more than a decade. Non-controversial, reserved, suave and professional, Srikanth, who is known as a “producer’s actor” has created a record by acting in 100 films in a short span of time. While his upcoming film Mahatma will make him 100-films-old, Srikanth says that the numbers were never intentional.

“I began my career as a villain and played negative roles in my first 13 movies. After Thammareddy Bharadwaja gave me an opportunity to play the lead in One By Two, there was no looking back. After that a lot of scripts came my way and here I am doing my 100th film,” says Srikanth, who is feeling the heat before the release for the first time.

“I didn’t even realise that this would mark a big milestone of my career. It was only when my friends started telling me about it did I became conscious of the number. I wanted my 100th movie to be special. Since director Krishna Vamsi is a good friend of mine for the past 17 years, I asked him to direct Mahatma,” says the actor, who plays a goon who enters politics, only to learn about Gandhism eventually. The star who is excited about the “different” role he plays, admits that he has been typecast in all the family entertainers he has acted in.


“In the early days of my career, I did act in offbeat flicks like Nidhi and Gamyam, but they didn’t do well. On the other hand, the family-oriented films were blockbusters. After that, I have been getting only a certain kind of films. If this film does well, filmmakers will hopefully see a different side of me,” adds Srikant.


The actor also observes that he needs to keep up with rapidly changing trends in filmmaking and understand the pulse of the current audience. “If we were to make the yesteryear blockbuster Pellisandhadi today, it will be a flop. The industry has transformed from being hero-centric to director-centric. Unless a story is presented differently, it is tough to draw the crowd to theatres. Youngsters too are keen on watching only quality cinema and this is a good trend,” he adds.
With his acting career going great guns, there has been much speculation about whether Srikanth will enter politics like many of his Tollywood contemporaries, especially since he is a close friend of Chiranjeevi.To this, the actor says, “I don’t know anything about politics. My relationship with Chiranjeevi is on a personal ground, I have no political ambitions. I am very shy and I can only act in front of the camera. Chiranjeevi knows I am not interested in politics and has never forced me to join his Praja Rajyam.”


This reticent attitude of the actor also reflects in the fact that he makes few public appearances. “I am not a party animal, I’m a complete family man. Whenever I have free time, I spend it with my family. My wife Uha who was also an actress, is my biggest support system. I’m happy being this way,” says Srikanth.