What happened was we had seen her in Dabangg 3 and the innocence that we needed you
know so we thought she'd be right for that part
I didn't realise I could pitch it to them because Mahesh sir is an actor you know and he’s
never produced a film that doesn’t start himself so this would be the first
As a child my mom and I used to come every Friday for a date to come
From school she used to get me here to eat we used to go and the horse ride so I think at that
point I didn't understand exactly what happened but I
knew there was something wrong because we never came after that
Bahubali was film school for me what I was able to learn from Rajamouli sir just by watching him
Yeah, I’ve actually signed my next two films
You have? Yeah, so I will announce them post Major.
Which ones?
Hello everyone and welcome to Pinkvilla. Today with us we have the supremely talented
Adivi Sesh and Saiee Manjrekar to talk about their upcoming film Major
Hi guys.
So firstly, you know we are all waiting for Major and even before we start talking about the
film, I really will start by asking you playing a real-life character, Mr Sandeep Unnikrishnan
It's a very responsible task when it came to you did it come with its own pressure?
Well, I guess it didn't really come to me as much as me
taking it to everyone else. I think Major is a passion project
of mine. I had quite a flourishing career in Telegu cinema for the
longest time and then I realised that I’m a fan of Major Sandeep and I wanted the world to
know what I knew about his life
So, I thought it would be interesting if we made it as an all-Indian film which is why Major
is being made in Hindi, Telegu and dubbed into Malayalam, his mother tongue
So, in many ways I think I took it to everyone so maybe it's a
question for her how did you feel when Major came to you.
How did it come to you?
That is something I found out today actually, he saw me in a song on YouTube I mean
on YouTube as in a song in the film that was on YouTube
Dabangg 3, yes
And I can’t praise myself
The film is produced by Mahesh babu sir and Namrata ma’am is friends with the Manjrekar
family and so she ended up reaching out to Medha ji and the next thing you know
What happened was we had seen her Dabangg 3 and the innocence that we needed
you know so we thought she'd be right for that part
The director, Sashi who's working on the post-production right now in Hyderabad said she'd
be right and then the rest as they say is history
You took the firm to Mahesh babu who's producing and he also is a celebrated actor was
there ever a discussion from the producer’s point of view that maybe I should act as well?
Actually, you know I think how it happened is Mahesh sir has worked you know he's worked
with Anurag and Sharadha another set of producers A+S movies on this film and Anurag sir
got me to meet Namrata ma’am and that's how this whole thing sort of started rolling
I didn't realise I could pitch it to them because Mahesh sir is an actor you know and he’s
never produced a film that doesn’t star himself so this would be the first and you know they
were extremely gracious and they've only guided us on how we can have the maximum reach
to take it internationally and that's the reason we brought Sony on board but other than these
things I don't think he's ever said to me I wish I would have
acted in it that sort of thing even as a joke he’s never said
26/11 is a very dark day in our history, it was my research topic in college so I’ve also read a
lot about it but what are your memories of that do you all remember anything from then?
I barely have any memories because I was too young but I do remember being in a frenzy
just being confused there's you know the news is on all day all night my mom is sitting, every
time I see my mom worried about something I get worried and it still happens. So I was seeing
my mom worried and just like sitting in front of the TV that was crying and the Taj is very
important to me because as a child my mom and I used to come every Friday for a date to come
From school she used to get me here to eat we used to go and the horse ride so I think at that
point I didn't understand exactly what happened but I knew there was something wrong
because we never came after that
Really? Even after it got rebuilt? Yeah
How was it for you? Do you remember anything from that day ?
Yeah, you know I grew up in San Francisco and we were we'd actually just played cricket
and come home the desis over there, Indian channels it was TV Asia that's the Indian
channel, now there might be a lot but then that was the only one. And we suddenly started
watching this thing you have to understand at that time India had a bomb blast or riot once
every year once every two years so we thought it was something one more and slowly we
started realising this is not that. This is a terrorist attack being done for the 24/7 news cycle it's
for us to watch and I was shocked and two days I couldn't move I kept watching and then
suddenly somewhere Major Sandeep's photograph came up. Who is this guy? Who is this man?
There are so many cousins I have, my face so many cousins basically all of our faces look like
him so, I started feeling this loss basically like there has
been a death in the family and just that sort of annoying feeling
We all felt that on that day
And that's what I wrote
The film has been ready for a while. Was there ever a
moment that tested your patience? The delays?
Well, I don't think it's actually we just wrapped shoot a few weeks ago. No, what
happened was we started our first schedule so just getting into it the first lockdown, six
months and this is a film that needs to be shot in Kashmir, Himachal, Haryana, Bombay,
Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kerela
And even the lockdowns open, some place has 50% easing, some place has curfew, some
have complete lockdown and midst of all this you don’t need permissions in the military intsallations
because of the Covid risks. So, the frustrating part was during shoot. I don't think we finished
the film and sat on it. In fact now we're all guns blazing part
of why the director Sashi is not here we're trying to get it ready for 11 February
Your first film was Dabangg 3. Second is Major very
diversely opposite from each other, was that consciously chosen?
Not really because after Dabangg I wasn't like looking for something specific but when Major
came, I instantly knew that I needed to do this and I did it and it was just a great learning
experience because it was something so different from Dabangg and it was just challenging in
a good way I think and everyone really helped me with it from Sesh to everyone on set so I
think it was a great experience just going for it.
I don't know how many people know but you were in Bahubali
I did that was before I’d become a lead actor in Telegu I was just you know when you come
from no background and when you are just making, I’d also come to a new country see
moving to India was a new country just having no help so I was just starting to do these
supporting roles right after Bahubali I had my first solo success as a hero in Telegu, Kshanam
which Sajid Nadiadwala sir remade in Hindi as Baaghi 2 and from there the rest of my career
Sure, I was just reading an article of yours where you said that you know you're speaking
about Bahubali and you said that not many people
remember me from that film do you regret doing it?
On the contrary, Bahubali was film school for me. What I was able to learn from Rajamouli
sir just by watching him he has no idea I know this but for a hundred days I was just watching
him on set and watching him there's so much I learned there's so much about my own work
ethic that I think I’ve learned from him.
Anything in Hindi that's happening?
Yeah, I’ve actually signed my next two films
You have? Yeah so, I will announce them post Major
Which ones?
You know actually we're due for some announcements really soon
The main thing is of course we want to do right by Major Sandeep first
And sort of really take his story out into the world
One last thing I want to ask you your father's Antim release
recently tell me something about Antim and any chance of you collaborating with Salman again?
I think that we talked about it later but about Antim I just want to say that it's one of my
favourite movies of this year actually quite in a while and I think I really enjoyed it. It's
something that I was waiting to see in a theatre and that's about all of this
But in the meanwhile, we can't wait to see Major it looks nice on the teaser and trailer I’m
sure is going to come out soon so all the best for it.