Winner of the Mr South India pageant in 2009, Vish is an Indian model-turned-actor who made his debut alongside Naga Chaitanya Akkineni with the 2009 Telugu movie Josh. Best known for his work in the Telugu film industry, Vish is playing the antagonist called ‘Baddie’ in Liger starring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday. He’s also a martial artist off-screen and the executive producer of Liger.
Ahead of the film’s release, the actor exclusively interacted with Absolute India News. Excerpts:
On working with the ensemble cast
Liger features Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday in lead roles. It also has the cameo of Mike Tyson. Talking about working with such an ensemble cast, Vish quipped, “It’s a dream team to work with, and I’m happy it did. I’ve always wanted to work in Bollywood and Dharma Productions, and finally, my dream has come true. Working with all of them was wonderful. It was also difficult to get everyone on board. It didn’t happen instantly, but Charmme deserves all the credit for persevering.”
On releasing it in theatre and not OTT
The actor, who is also the CEO of the production house shared what prompted them to release the flick in theatres. Talking about the same, Vish shared, “We didn’t thought of releasing the film on OTT even once. In fact, we were waiting for the pandemic to end so that people could be healthy and come back to theatres and enjoy films. We did got a lot of lucrative offers from OTT platforms, but rather than succumbing to that pressure we decided to wait for theatrical release.”
On audience not willing to go to theatres
In recent times, we have witnessed some films tanking at the box office, while doing wonders when streaming on OTT. Commenting on the same, Vish said, “Content is the foremost thing, apart from that, audience need that X-factor to come and spend time and money for any film. They are being thoughtful. We as filmmakers should look forward to make films which are exciting and dragging them to theatres.”
On North-South debate
The north vs south debate has been a hot topic of discussion in the Indian film industry for quite a few weeks now. The discussion started cropping up after films like RRR and KGF Chapter 2 did spectacularly well at the box office across the country, while many Bollywood films continue to struggle to match the numbers.
Recalling an experience, the actor shared, “When I was in Mumbai, I wasn’t treated properly by people because I’m from the south. And today, when I tell people this, they are kind to us and supportive. As a person, I think there shouldn’t be any prejudice, so I’m delighted that people are welcoming everyone. It is one country and we are all Indians. I think we should stick by it. Cinema is Universal. Whether from Bollywood or the south, if the content is good, people will consume it.”
He further attributed that films are failing in the South as well. He averred, “Not all films from the south are successful. RRR, KGF, and Pushpa are just a few of the successful South films. Eventually, it’s good content that appeals to the audience.”
On nepotism debate
On a parting note, the actor elucidated his thoughts on the nepotism debate. He said, “Nepotism exists in every industry. Nothing is actually wrong with it. I believe it is wrong if someone is going overdoing it. It is best to be realistic, work hard to gain recognition, and then ultimately things will fall into place. Being an outsider one shouldn’t be so naive to expect that someone will roll out a red carpet for you as soon as you enter the industry.
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