'Srikanth wanted to show people his negative side too in the biopic'

CHENNAI: With a week left for the release of Srikanth, a biopic on the visually impaired Indian entrepreneur Srikanth Bolla (played by Rajkummar Rao), filmmaker Tushar Hiranandani and actor Jyotika was in Chennai on Friday to promote the film.

While biopics predominantly glorifying the protagonist, Tushar told DT Next that Srikanth will be an exception. "When I met Srikanth, he told me not to do away with his negative side in the film. I stayed with him in Hyderabad for three days and what I can tell you is Srikanth is 'not bolla', which means to innocent in Hindi," he told us.

Having watched Savithri's biopic Mahanati in theatres, Srikanth was impressed with the way the actress's dark side too was shown to the audience. "Srikanth is a smart guy and wicked when it comes to business. During the discussion, he told me that he went really bad in certain places and wanted me to add such traits of him to the narrative. These will make for the first half of the movie and how his life turns around because of his teacher, played by Jyotika is what you will see in the latter half of Srikanth," he added.

Having played the role of a teacher previously in film's like Raatchasi, Jyotika tells us that she had no apprehensions in playing the role again in Srikanth. "I look at this role with so much pride. As an actor, I feel lucky to land such supporting characters. Behind every person, there is driving force and it is good to be that person, who holds the protagonist and be the wind beneath their wings. The teachers I have played in the past are for social causes, and one of them was even romantic (smiles), so this is way different. It definitely comes with a lot of responsibility and has to be as real as it gets, which is the best part," she remarked.