Adarsh Gourav reveals how Samantha Ruth Prabhu was the force behind his Telugu film debut

After making a mark in Hindi and English films, Adarsh Gourav is set to make his Telugu debut with a yet-untitled film, for which he is currently shooting. Ask him about it and Adarsh Gourav says, “Telugu is my mother tongue, so it had been long due for me. It's just that I didn't know how to start working in Telugu films because I couldn't find an in road.”

The actor goes on to thank actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu for being his guide in Telugu industry: “Actually, I should thank Samantha for this, because I was at Citadel’s after party, and I was telling her that I wanted to start working in Telugu films. She said, ‘Why don't you go and take some meetings there and I'll help you to take those meetings and see through’. Her business partner and her manager made me meet a lot of people and then I met the producer and director of this film. That's how I ended up getting the part; it was a stroke of luck.” He calls his film a “multi-genre script”, sharing that it is a psychological thriller and horror but also a dark comedy.

Telugu cinema is known for its larger-than-life heroism. Ask Adarsh if he would also like to venture into those genres of films and he says, “I didn't grow up watching larger-than-life cinema. I started watching films with dedication very late in life, and I began with watching Anurag Kashyap films, or Vikramaditya Motwane, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar’s work, the realistic side of Indian cinema. Whenever I saw their characters, it felt like I have met such a person in real life. I felt a sense of relatability. For the larger-than-life films’, the producers need to see me in that light. I cannot decide all on my own, unless I produce it for myself.”

While the industry might be new Adarsh, the language isn’t, and he feels proud of that. “In my childhood, my parents made this rule that no matter what language we speak outside the house, at home, we will only speak Telugu. At that time, I didn’t understand why, but today at 31, it makes sense,” he says, sharing his experience of working on the film. “Every industry is different because culturally everybody is different. That definitely has an effect on it. It's strange, because I have never had Telugu friends growing up. It has been just a few days here, but there is such a sense of familiarity. Maybe it's because of the people or the food, but I'm already so comfortable here. There's something magical about working with people who speak the same language as you do. Even though you don't know them, you feel like they understand you and you understand them, it's special,” he ends.