Naveen Chandra on Ammu: This was a good medium to explore the idea that what if a woman decides to fight back?

What happens when the person you love becomes the perpetrator of violence in your life? Ammu, the new Telugu movie is a poignant tale of domestic abuse and a young woman’s struggle against her violent husband. Telugu actor Naveen Chandra , who plays the protagonist and turns into the antagonist is finally finding his moment under the sun after more than a decade of playing diverse roles. “My phone hasn’t stopped ringing ever since the movie released.” the 40-year-old grins and adds almost as an afterthought. “I’m getting a lot of polarized reactions and I’m having to tell people that it’s not Naveen the person, but Ravi, the character who behaves in that manner.”

The actor asserts that he is the polar opposite of his character in the movie and is a devoted family man. What he is happy though is about the fact that the movie has started conversations around domestic abuse and violence. “These are stories that need to be told. There are men like ones shown in the movie who exist in society, I have seen people like these over the years and I hope they think about it and change. That is the purpose of roles like this, to show a mirror to society.”  he notes. Naveen heard the script during the second lockdown and immediately jumped in saying yes. He says that the fact that the role was negative didn’t bother him in the least and he was keen that he give the character his best shot. A realistic theme Given the nature of the script and the gritty theme, there were no workshops planned by the director Charukesh Sekar. Naveen also did not know the other lead actress Aishwarya Lekshmi personally which helped him to slip into the character effortlessly. There was no particular research that went into creating the actor’s arc. “These are stories that seep into your consciousness informally and have heard all your life: someone’s husband, friend or neighbour. It should be noted that abuse is not just physical but also mental. In my mind, it was clear that the persona of Ravi was menacing. To get into the role I was in a closed space and did not interact much with people during the filming.” he reveals. Given the topic of the movie and its dark undertones, there was an intimacy coordinator and a psychiatrist on sets. The actor adds, “It really helped to have them on set as they guided us on how best to perform our roles. Our director was clear that we did not suffer mentally owing to the intensity of our characters.” A couple of scenes in the film were challenging for the actor. The one in which Lekshmi’s character takes his bike keys took 19 takes while the climax, which had a conversation between the two leads took 37 takes to perfect. Naveen is hopeful that the one takeaway for people who have seen the film is not to take women for granted.  “Some men choose to hit those who cannot hit back. This is an example to caution them against doing it.” he states and adds, “I felt that this was a good medium to explore the idea that what if a woman decides to fight back? What if that oppressed refuse to take it lying down? All the time, I was shooting, I was personally rooting for Ammu to win.” The actor also says that he hated seeing himself onscreen. He smiles, “That’s not me and each day I had to take the character out of my system to go home to my wife and kids. I didn’t want to take any part of it home!” Spreading wings Ammu’s release on an OTT platform no doubt helped its reach. The actor agrees and adds, “These kind of movies should run irrespective of the pressures of numbers or ticket sales. Because it’s an OTT release, people all over the world have watched it as today language is no longer a barrier. People from different countries are sending me direct messages, which is possible only because it is on a streaming platform.” Naveen who first shot to fame with Andala Rakshasi in 2012 has often explored different roles and themes. He says, “I’m an artist who craves for good scripts than aiming to be a hero or a star. I search for scripts which are rooted in human relationships and though some of them haven’t really done well, I learn with each character I do and have been constantly exploring in terms of the roles I take up.” Being a part of the acclaimed director Trivikram’s movie, _Aravinda Sametha_ or working with Adivi Sesh in Evaru has taught him the importance of a good script. “Everything is a learning process. I want to surprise audiences constantly. People connect with a story if it is honest, realistic and has some entertainment value. I want to focus on movies which emphasize on human relationships.” Basking in the well-deserved accolades of Ammu, the actor is looking forward to an array of releases across different languages: Jigarthanda 2, the upcoming Balakrishna movie and director Shankar’s next. Ammu is streaming on Amazon Prime Video

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