PremiumNithiin on Extra Ordinary Man - I take inspiration from Venkatesh while doing comedy | Exclusive
The actor returns to his comfort zone - comedy entertainer - with his upcoming release Extra Ordinary Man
Last Updated: 03.56 PM, Dec 05, 2023
Nithiin, after an extravagant round of promotions for Extra Ordinary Man in Telugu states, is heading to the US tonight. He realises it’s a time to push boundaries, expand his market in international locations, capitalising on the popularity of Telugu cinema across the globe. After a dud like Macherla Niyojaka Vargam, he intentionally chose a commerce-friendly action-comedy with popular writer-director Vakkantham Vamsi.
“I wanted to be a part of a film that I would be confident of. Love stories and entertainers have always worked in my favour. Moreover, it’s unique to play a junior artiste, it hasn’t been explore in Telugu cinema before. The focus was to entertain audiences, so we haven’t tried to discuss the challenges in his life. Extra Ordinary Man is the most entertaining script in Vakkantham Vamsi’s career,” he says.
During the promotions, Vakkantham Vamsi, Rao Ramesh and Rajasekhar have given Nithiin immense credit for being sportive, secure on sets, giving creative freedom to co-actors and the director. “I take inspiration from actors like Venkatesh, where most of the jokes are directed at him in his films and he handles them with such grace. Ultimately, we’re here to entertain and need to do what’s right for the film.”
He shares a special rapport with Rao Ramesh, who plays his on-screen father. The film promises to look at the father-son dynamic in a new light. “Even in my previous films like Dil, the son always gives back to the father in their verbal banters. In Extra Ordinary Man, I respect my father immensely and he takes advantage of it. Given my equation with him, the humour came through effortlessly.”
Reportedly, character artistes Sampath Raj, while interacting with Nithiin on sets, told him how he’s growing tired of playing cop and villain roles film after film. “Thankfully in our film, he got a character that he hasn’t played before and he enjoyed it to bits. After me and Rao Ramesh, it’s his character that audiences would remember in Extra Ordinary Man. Our comical exchanges have shaped up well.”
A bulk of the jokes in Extra Ordinary Man revolves around references, hit dialogues in Telugu cinema and Nithiin admits the danger of alienating a segment of audiences that’s unaware of pop-culture trends. “Out of a crore, let’s say a lakh people watch films and I’m sure at least 80% of them would be aware of what we’re talking about. They could help the others understand the jokes better.”
The popular Jeevitham-Jeevitha dialogue in the trailer uttered by Rajasekhar was not informed to the actor until the last minute. “We were slightly nervous about his reaction. Initially, we only told him the ‘jeevitham’ dialogue and not my response on ‘jeevitha’. When we went for the shot, all of us enjoyed it, including Jeevitha (garu), who was on sets.”
Sreeleela may have a limited role, but audiences will get whatever they expect from a commercial film heroine, Nithiin states. The choice to rope in Harris Jayaraj came from his father Sudhakar Reddy. “Though he’s given great albums in Telugu, it has unfortunately come for a lost cause for films like Orange, Sainikudu, Vasu. This is a industry that trusts the hit-sentiment more. I didn’t have any reservations though. He’s given a new dimension to Extra Ordinary Man with his songs and BGM.”
In between his commercial successes, Nithiin has tried to break the mould with Sri Anjaneyam, Check and LIE, but the experiments haven’t satisfied crowds fully. “I still want to do the occasional experiment. I want to do something along the lines of Sri Anjaneyam again. I hope to explore more roles with grey shades in the future too.” Next in the lineup are films with directors Venky Kudumula and Venu Sriram.