Prakash Raj, who has played a lawyer in 'Vakeel Saab', has spoken in an interview after the release of the courtroom drama.
Since my name in the film is Nanda, the audience have immediately related it to 'Badri', in which I and Pawan Kalyan played opposing characters. Director Venu Sriram chose the name consciously. When you are telling a story, there has to be entertainment value. The audience are totally enjoying it when Pawan's character refers to me as Nandaji or Nandagopal.
When a member of the audience walks out of the theatre, all that he remembers is whether he has been entertained. No matter what is the message of your movie, there has to be entertainment in it.
'Vakeel Saab' is so close to Pawan Kalyan's thinking. It's a relevant subject. Some of the dialogues in the film are straight out of his heart.
If an actor has to do a good job, the story, dialogues and situations have to be strong. Only then the performance gets elevated.
Pawan Kalyan used to be on the sets early in the morning. Shooting for the courtroom scenes was like attending an office in real. I would come to sets at 9 am. By then, he would be there. When asked, he would say that he was not getting sleep and so he came to the sets.
I am actor and I don't know how to produce movies. If I like a subject, I produce a small-scale film.
I have criticized Pawan politically in the past because I have a lot of respect for him. I may have political differences with him but we respect each other a lot. He is a leader.
I and Pawan garu used to discuss on sets. He would ask me about protest poetry and books on Karnataka. He read my 'Dositi Chinukulu' and told me that my ideology is nice.
It was painful to ask of a woman 'Are you a virgin?' in the movie. But I am just an actor and I have to behave as per the character.
Pawan garu has entered politics for people. Politics is harder than what we expect. He lost in 2019. But he has stood by the people even though he lost his seat.
I am currently doing films in five languages. 'KGF 2', 'Yuvarathna', 'Major', 'Vakeel Saab' and a film with Suriya in Tamil are some of them.
