Naga Chaitanya: More often we become heroes, rather than actors

Actor Naga Chaitanya opens up on working in director Sekhar Kammula’s ‘Love Story’ and lavishes praise on Sai Pallavi for helping him learn complex dance moves

Actor Naga Chaitanya is no stranger to love stories, be it Ye Maya Chesave (2010), or his portions in Manam (2013) and Majili (2019). But his new Telugu film Love Story, directed by Sekhar Kammula and co-starring Sai Pallavi, will see him go through the beats of an intense story of romance and small town aspirations, if the trailer is an indication. Counting down to the theatrical release on September 24, the actor was game to field questions, but maintains a dignified silence on rumours about his marital life and instead talks about his work.

Love Story has him enacting the role of Revanth, who hails from a village in Telangana and opens a Zumba centre. Having grown up in Hyderabad and Chennai, Chaitanya admits that Kammula’s story ushered him into a new territory: “We don’t talk enough about small town issues. Telugu cinema has been mostly glamorous and larger than life. There’s been a shift with films such as Care of Kancharapalem and Middle Class Melodies, but we don’t do enough. I was eager to be a part of Sekhar’s story and he took me through an incredible journey,” explains Chaitanya.

Kammula and two other writers from the team coached Chaitanya on the Telangana dialect. Filming in Armoor in Nizamabad district, he says, helped him further understand the world of Revanth. The film’s pre-production involved discussions on the backstories of the characters. Chaitanya says Love Story is more than just a boy-meets-girl story: “The story looks at complex issues of how incidents that happen during childhood and the society influence upbringing.”