'I don't encourage smoking' - Guntur Kaaram star Mahesh Babu reveals how he shot with beedis with 'zero tobacco'

Mahesh Babu is on top of the world as his new film Guntur Kaaram has been making solid money at the box office. The action drama is all set to clock the Rs 200-crore mark soon and fans of Mahesh are super happy to see their favorite star in such a mass avatar after a long time.

But one issue that has become a talking point of the film is the chain-smoking by Mahesh in most of the scenes. The star hero is being trolled for smoking on screen and the same was asked to Mahesh in one of his interviews. Mahesh was quick to respond and revealed that the Beedi he was seen smoking in the film was an Ayurvedic Beedi.

Mahesh says, "I don't smoke and encourage smoking as well. The Beedis which I smoked in Guntur Kaaram were made of clove leaves and special mint flavor leaves and had zero tobacco in it". Mahesh adds that he had a tough time smoking those Beedis in the film and often ended up having migraine during the shoots.

When asked Mahesh Babu about his eccentric loud avatar in the film, he says, "Right from day one, both I and Trivikram wanted my character Ramana to be loud and massy. Not many know that I can imitate people quite nicely and this aspect, Trivikram knew quite well. So, before each scene, he used to ask me to imitate a few guys whom I met someone a few days ago. Getting the attitude of Ramana was quite tough. Once I got that, things fell into place automatically. Even for the dances, I went all out as it will sometime before my fans see me in such a mass avatar in the years to come".

Mahesh adds that was quite a bit tensed as to how he would dance to the Kurchi Madatapetti song in the climax. "On one hand, I had to do these crazy steps and on the other hand, I had Sreeleela dancing with me and she is superb with her steps. But I rehearsed hard and finished the song. The reaction of the audience was priceless when I watched the number on the big screen," says Mahesh Babu.

Guntur Kaaram is Mahesh Babu's third film with director Trivikram Srinivas and Mahesh says that he always gets the best out of him and the same has happened with Guntur Kaaram. Though the film started on a dull note, the collections are quite solid.

However, the film will be tested once the holiday season is over from tomorrow onwards. Thaman has scored music for Guntur Kaaram and Haarika and Haasine Entertainments is the production house. We need to see how much the film make in the days to come.