Vijay Deverakonda and ace director Puri Jagannadh announced their next venture JGM at a grandiose event in Mumbai on March 29. The action drama, produced by Charmme Kaur, Vamshi Paidipally and Puri, will be a pan India entertainer and showcase Vijay in a never before seen role. The South superstar answered a volley of questions in a media interaction. Excerpts:
Even before the release of your Hindi debut, your fan following has become so huge. Your take?
People make me aware that there is a huge fan following. I don’t know what it means. But I am happy to know that it exists and whatever exists, it feels great.
Pic: Viral Bhayani l The team of JGM during its launch
What connected you to JGM, and what have you explored?
I haven’t explored anything. I will begin shooting. But as soon as I heard the script, I felt great and interesting. I felt that I have to do it. It has some madness to it and is crazy. I like such scripts. I enjoy this madness. I cannot wait to start shooting.
You are coming to the pan India audience now with your Hindi films. How does it feel?
If you can, why not tell stories to the audiences everywhere and be entertained back home. It is important in every state. It’s not very easy to find stories that will work for the entire country because they are rooted culturally. I am lucky that I am getting such scripts. I always liked to perform when I used to do theatre in college.
Go on...
I would only perform for groups in the biggest auditorium, or when they called me for the audition, before asking about the details of the script, I would ask which auditorium the play would be put up. There are two auditoriums which are Ravindra Bharathi and Shilpakala Vedika, in Hyderabad, and they can seat 1,000 people. If they were doing it on these platforms only, then I would read the script. Even before the play would start, I would stand backstage and see if the auditorium is full. I wanted to do the cinema when I did theatre. I always wanted the biggest stage. Indian cinema excites me the most. That’s my desire, and I am going all out.
How does it feel to work with different filmmakers and do varied roles?
I feel lucky as an actor to get such varied characters. Because I can’t do anything individually. Somebody has to write it and bring it to me. So I feel lucky that I am working with amazing directors and happy playing these characters.
Do you feel any sort of pressure as Liger will be releasing soon?
Do I feel pressure with Liger? No, it’s not so. I am just waiting for it to release. It’s easy, so there is no pressure at all. The kind of life that I have lived, compared to all this, is easy.
Was it a dream come true that you got to work with the legendary Mike Tyson in Liger?
It felt surreal working with Mike Tyson. It’s an amazing experience. People would talk amongst one another and say who are the biggest stars and we came up with four names: Michael Jackson, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Mike Tyson. Michael and Bruce Lee are gone. We just have Jackie and Mike. I got beaten up by him with a punch on my head which shook my brains, but I was standing! This gave me a lot of confidence... Tyson ne maara aur mein khada hoon! Come on; I can take anything now! It was a crazy experience. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience being with him.
