Prakash Raj gave us space to explore our roles: Satyadev

Listening to Satyadev, who burst onto the scene with Puri Jagannadh’s ‘Jyothi Lakshmi’ last year, speak about Prakash Raj, it is evident that he is in awe of the versatile actor, who he considers as his inspiration. He admits that when Prakash Raj told him that he would make us of his talent one day, he couldn’t believe his stars. “Jagan garu (Puri Jagannadh) organised a special show of ‘Jyothi Lakshmi’ to Prakash Raj garu and impressed by my performance, he advised me, ‘Don’t do films for the heck of it. Be selective and wait for the good ones.’

He also told me that he would offer a film in the future. Leave aside what he said, I was over the moon when he lauded my performance,” the Vizag lad exults in a conversation with Talkies. Staying true to his words, Prakash Raj offered him a role in his directorial venture, ‘Mana Oori Ramayanam,’ which opens in cinemas on Friday. “While filming for ‘Shourya’, he asked me to visit him. He later spoke about ‘Mana Oori Ramayanam’ and what I’ll play in it. My joy knew no bounds that day,” he recalls fondly.

Satya plays an auto driver Shiva in the drama, which is inspired by the 2012 Malayalam film ‘Shutter’. Shedding more light about his part, he shares, “Shiva is like Hanuman to Bhujangayya (Prakash Raj) in the film. He aspires to go to Dubai like his idol Bhujangayya and earn some quick bucks. How he, like the other three parts (played by Prakash Raj, Priyamani and Prudvi) get caught in a situation and how their lives (the male characters) change because of it is what the film is all about.”

He prepped up for the part by learning how to ride an auto rickshaw first. “I know an auto rickshaw driver at the place where I stay in Hyderabad and practiced driving from him for an hour daily until the shoot commenced. Since I knew how to ride a gear vehicle, it was relatively easy,” he chuckles, pointing out that for the shoot, they had to use a 10-seater unlike the normal one. “It was kind of difficult. Also, the cameras were mounted on the auto but I adjusted as time progressed.”

The suave actor admits that it has been a memorable experience working with Prakash Raj. “Sitting with him for 20 minutes is equivalent to learning two years of acting from a coaching institute,” he declares, adding, “As the captain of the ship and a great actor, he could have easily told us, ‘Why don’t you do the scene this way?’ But he didn’t. He gave us our own space to explore the role and interfered only when he felt that a particular expression was not required for the situation.”

Speaking to Talkies recently, Prakash Raj revealed that he would be repeating Satya again for his next directorial, ‘60 Yellu Chamanachaya,’ which he plans to start from December. How does that feel? “It is the next level of happiness. I had gooseflesh when he told me what I’ll play in the film. I’m certain that it would define my career,” he promises, further revealing that he was offered two projects recently but since they both required him to allocate dates from November and December, he had to turn them down. “Both are good projects but I’m committed to Prakash Raj garu’s film. I was free in the last three months but nobody offered me a film and now I got two films on one day. It’s crazy!” he smiles, signing off.